


Urban Realities

by AnimatorZee



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fantasy, Gen, Spoilers, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-07-14 04:05:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 55,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7152827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimatorZee/pseuds/AnimatorZee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Characters will be tagged as they appear.)</p><p>Hellions and Malevolence are bedtime stories to scare children into behaving. Seraphim are a superstition that some deny and others vehemently believe. And the Shepherd is merely a legend, told fondly from grandparents to their grandchildren to inspire hope. But there is truth to every legend. After all, the story has to come from somewhere.</p><p>And when that legend starts to make an alarming comeback, Sorey unexpectedly finds himself in a maelstrom of chaos and danger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lazy Days

_Have you ever wished that stories would become a reality? That your dreams of discovering new things and battling ferocious monsters, weren't just dreams? Have you ever listened to tales of adventure, of freedom and mystery, and wished they weren't just tales? Have you ever listened to an old woman by the fireside, recalling an enchanting legend of a brave warrior who guided the land into peace and prosperity, by way of magnificent powers, a kind heart, and an unshakable resolve; and wished that it was a reality?_

_And while we're on the subject, have you also ever heard the phrase, "be careful what you wish for"?_

* * *

Ladylake was a strange city. While in most places, seraphim were merely an urban legend or a superstition, there were quite a few people here that believed they existed. It was hardly surprising, given the region's notoriety for upholding old traditions and legends. Still, even among those that _did_ believe in the seraphim, not everyone thought of them in a positive light. There were claims of ill-intentioned or mischievous seraphim that liked to cause trouble for mortals, and were the cause of things like power surges during storms or other mishaps. The fact of the matter, however, was that there weren't any seraphim in Ladylake at all.

Well, except for one.

The lack of other seraphim was strange, and as much as Mikleo argued that it didn't bother him, Sorey could tell that he was feeling a bit sore about it. Nonetheless, the two managed to find their way in the city just fine. A place full of ancient traditions and superstitions was perfect for a pair of budding archaeologists, even if one of them was invisible to virtually every citizen there. When they weren't tending to their job at the local library (Sorey's job, to be more specific, but Mikleo had few qualms with helping out all things considered), they'd found themselves visiting many vistas and landmarks around town. Today, in particular, they found themselves stopped short of their usual investigations not by previous obligations or crows, but by a barbed-wire fence.

"Why do you think they keep this place locked up, Mikleo?" Sorey asked.

"I'd almost say it's because the building is condemned," the water seraph mused, folding his arms thoughtfully, "But it seems to be in fairly good condition, despite being so old. From the outside, at least."

An astute observation, as always; it confirmed Sorey's own thoughts. Despite being one of the most popular and notable landmarks in town, the Sanctuary in Ladylake was completely fenced off, with signs warning against trespassing scattered about. It was a real shame, as well; Sorey had been eager to visit it ever since he first moved to Ladylake several weeks ago.

"You're right. It definitely looks old, but nowhere close to falling down. It's in really good condition for something supposedly dating back millennia. How do you think that's possible? Seraphic artes, maybe?"

Mikleo abruptly jabbed Sorey in the ribs with his elbow. "Keep your voice down!" he hissed. "You're going to get stared at again!"

Rubbing his side, Sorey offered his friend an apologetic look. It was sometimes difficult for him to remember that not everyone could see his friend. He'd known Mikleo his whole life; being able to see him was as normal as breathing and sleeping. "Right. Sorry..."

"Don't apologize to _me_ ," Mikleo quietly retorted, but offered no further complaints, returning his attention to the building in question and changing his tone to match. "It wouldn't surprise me if it were dangerous inside. A house might look okay outside, but the floors and stairs could be too rotten to climb."

Sorey frowned thoughtfully. "It makes sense..." It was a shame. Ever since he moved to Ladylake several weeks ago, he'd been eager to delve into the town's history. What he'd been met with was more than a little disappointing, but he'd pressed on in hopes of finding something to satisfy his curious mind. Alisha had informed him that the Sacred Blade Festival - the very same one they still practiced, and coming up the very next weekend - used to be held in the Sanctuary, and it was quite the affair. When he asked her about the details, however, she'd reluctantly stated that that had only been the state of things long before she was even born; no one had been inside the Sanctuary for ages. While disappointing, it had also only served to feed Sorey's undying curiosity. What was it like inside? Just how grand was the festival? What was the Sacred Blade, anyway? And who was the Lady of the Lake? Did the Festival really have a connection to--

"Hey! Are you listening to me?"

Snapped from his thoughts, Sorey sheepishly smiled at Mikleo. "Sorry! I got a little lost in thought, there."

Mikleo sighed, shaking his head. "I thought so."

It was certainly good that there weren't too many people paying attention to him at the time, because Sorey's half-amused, half-ashamed laugh would have drawn more than a few strange looks. Part of him was glad that Rose had opted to remain home that day to finish up a few order forms to prepare for the festival; she probably would have suggested the two of them sneak in if they wanted to see the Sanctuary so badly. On the other hand, maybe he could ask Alisha about this place when he got home that evening. The princess was usually quite busy, but somehow she always managed to make time to chat with Sorey, eagerly talking with him about Ladylake's history and traditions. With the Sacred Blade Festival coming up, though, she might be too busy to have a longer discussion. And that was even assuming she knew why the Sanctuary was closed off in the first place.

"Anyway," Mikleo continued, finally cracking a smile, "The festival's in a few days, and the museum is planning a special exhibit to correspond with it. Want to go check it out once it's ready?"

The very prospect of it lifted Sorey's spirits, and a bright smile crossed his face. "Like you have to ask!" came Sorey's enthusiastic reply. The weekend could not come fast enough.

* * *

_History is ever doomed to repeat itself, so long as that history becomes muddled or lost. Lessons long taught soon are forgotten, and mankind repeats the same mistakes it made in ages past. Be that as it may, however, there is always a constant._ _Amongst the hellions, the seraphim, the malevolence...there will always be legends. Legends of a Shepherd that would guide the people to a more peaceful age, quelling the Lord of Calamity and returning light to a once dark time._ _But it seems even that legend has faded. Not entirely, of course. Through old traditions and the retelling of tales in their many forms, shreds of truth remain. The smallest of pieces that, while it may not form the entire story, give just enough to keep the legend alive._

_Should those pieces fail to be put together in time, those same dangers from the past will rise once more, and the world will suffer for it...or be lost forever._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short first chapter, I know. The rest will be longer!


	2. A Little Something Amiss

Why, of all times during the year, did the Sacred Blade Festival have to take place in the middle of the _summer?_ Was it because school was let out and families across the continent went traveling on vacation? Did it have something to do with ancient tradition? Was the famed Lady of the Lake just a fan of hot, humid weather?

Sorey and Mikleo would probably be the ones to know a more concrete answer, and would probably toss in a straight face and a few hypotheses in for good measure, rather than properly recognizing any sarcasm. For Rose, though, she was just tired of all the heat and the sweating it brought with it. On the plus side, the breeze was coming in through her open window as usual, keeping the heat in her room to a much more bearable level. It was far better than having to deal with sweat while sorting through order forms and the like. Not that there were very many to go through; business was slow at the moment. It hardly bothered the Sparrowfeathers, considering the upcoming festival; with it would come tourists. And with tourists, of course, came money. Lots of it.

Having finished her work in record time due to the sheer lack of it, Rose flopped back onto her bed, boredom quickly taking hold. The wind blew softly through her open window, rustling her curtains and bringing the sounds of busy streets below with it. The sun was out today, and the sky was clear... It was a perfect day to be doing anything other than staying cooped up in her apartment. Besides, it wasn't as if there was much more work to do, anyway; the festival planning was already being taken care of. The trouble was, there was hardly anything to do in the first place.

A few cheery chimes on her phone alerted her to an incoming text message. Plucking her phone up from nearby, Rose held it up and and began reading.

_Rose, Sorey and I are going to be working late at the library, so we can't meet up today._

Of course. Mikleo must have been borrowing Sorey's phone again. Rose let out a sigh; it figures that on such a perfect day, she wouldn't be able to spend her free time hanging out with friends. Lazily, she typed back a message:

_no prob. lets shoot for tomorrow afternoon._

The moment she hit send, she unceremoniously dropped her phone and frowned at the ceiling as though it were the source of all her problems. Well, if Sorey and Mikleo were out of the picture, what was she left to do? There was nothing interesting playing in the local theatre, and Alisha was probably neck-deep in Festival preparations herself, not to mention her constant tutoring. You'd think nobility in this day and age wouldn't be so relevant. She could always swing by the library, of course, but visiting her friends while they were on the job was usually not a very good idea, given that it was a library of all places. Besides, being able to spot only one of them made things a little difficult. She'd have to find something  _else_...

As if answering her unspoken prayers, she heard a few frantic footsteps down the hall before a familiar face made itself known in her doorway. "Hey, boss!"

Rose sat up on her bed, more than thankful for the opportunity to beat her boredom. "Yeah? What is it?"

"We picked up something on the police scanner," came Talfryn's eager reply. "Sounds like they're having a hard time with a few thugs over at the market. They've been going at it for half an hour."

Rose quirked an eyebrow. "That much trouble over a few thugs?" She echoed. That couldn't be right. The police shouldn't have that much issue with a few lowlifes, certainly not enough to keep them occupied for thirty minutes. Unless...

 _Lunarre._ Of course.

Well, it wasn't how she'd expected to be breaking the silence on a summer day, but it would do. Maybe this time they'd finally be able to take care of that thorn in their side before he slipped away. Rose hopped to her feet and slid open a hidden compartment door within her closet, revealing a dark, hooded uniform. Taking on tasks involving her secret second job wasn't her idea of beating the summer boredom, but it was better than trying to find something on TV. Besides, something about this seemed strange, what with him pulling stunts like this in broad daylight. It was one of her usual gut feelings, of course, but time and experience had taught her that those were usually right.

"You and Felice stay behind to run the shop," Rose ordered. "I'll go see what's going on. Have the others get ready in case I need backup. Got it?"

"Got it!"

The moment her door was closed, Rose made a swift change into her hooded, masked outfit. Without even bothering to close her window, she snatched up her cell phone and slipped it into her pocket before heading out the back door, weaving through the back alleys with the wind at her back.

* * *

The library had seen busier days, that was certain, but that afternoon the library was still kept Mikleo and Sorey quite occupied. As per usual, Mikleo had taken to sorting books either in the more secluded sections or anywhere that wasn't populated by any patrons (they'd quickly learned the first time someone spotted a stack of floating books that it wasn't a good idea to let him help out near higher-traffic areas), and they'd certainly needed the extra hands that day. When Sorey's break rolled around, the two of them ended up sitting outside for a few snacks. Though Mikleo claimed to not be hungry, as seraphim didn't quite have a need for food to survive, they ended up sharing a bag of bunny jerky out of one of the vending machines anyway.

"All the copies of the Celestial Record are still checked out," Mikleo said. "When I was handling the history section, I don't think I saw a single one waiting to be returned."

"Aren't a few of those way overdue by now?" Sorey asked, taking a bite out of his jerky. The Celestial Record wasn't exactly the most popular book in the library to check out, and was often only borrowed for people doing research projects or people whom simply had an interest in history and archaeology, like him and Mikleo. Although they had their own copy at home, Sorey had been delighted to see the copies at the library getting used. This, though, was worrisome. "I could've sworn we should've had them all back last week."

Mikleo nodded, but frowned anyway. "True, but I did see a few people pass by today looking to read it themselves. It was a shame to have to see them turned away because what they were looking for wasn't there."

Sorey smiled reassuringly, leaning against the side of the building and staring down the street. "I'm sure they'll bring it back soon," he said. "You know how some of the people here get with the late fees."

The water seraph opened his mouth to respond, but abruptly halted as a look of alarm flashed across his face, and his attention was turned to the sky. "That's odd," Mikleo remarked, staring at that Sorey couldn't pinpoint... Or was he looking at anything at all? Whatever it was, it certainly had him on edge.

Sorey sat up. "What is it?" He asked.

Mikleo's turned to Sorey, eyes widened a little in worry. "You don't feel that?"

Well, that wasn't what he was expecting. Sorey blinked. "Feel what?" Maybe this was a seraph thing? But that couldn't be right. This had _never_ happened before. And if it was, Mikleo would have explained it instead of asking him, wouldn't he?

No sooner than Mikleo opened his mouth to respond did he shut it once more. His eyes narrowed in thought, and he looked away. "I'm...not sure. Something just didn't feel right for a moment there."

Cautiously, Sorey rested a hand on Mikleo's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Mikleo replied.

Well, if he said he was fine, then he was fine. Sorey lowered his hand, but still kept a cautious eye on his friend. It wasn't so much that he didn't trust that Mikleo was alright. He was simply worried. Such a reaction had come from nowhere, and while the water seraph was prone to occasional overreactions, they were usually over much more petty and trivial things. Such a serious reaction couldn't mean anything good.

Overhead, the bell above the library rang out. Mikleo pushed himself to his feet and dusted off his pants. "Our break's almost over. We should head back inside before you get in trouble."

Sorey followed suit, tossing the empty jerky bag into a nearby recycling can. "You know, you don't have to help me out with this job so much."

Mikleo shrugged. "I don't have anything else to do during the day. Besides, I don't mind it. There's a lot of fulfilling ways to help out patrons even if they can't see you." He offered Sorey a warm smile. "Come on. We've still got a lot of work to do, and we don't want to leave it all for tomorrow."

With that, the two headed back inside. Although Sorey was eager to get back inside, he couldn't help but wonder what it was that Mikleo had felt, or seen. It gnawed at his mind and tugged at his curiosity. Soon, however, he pushed the thought from his mind. If Mikleo said he was alright, then he was alright. The two had grown up together, after all, and had a strong bond of trust; if something was truly bothering Mikleo, he'd let Sorey know. He always did.

* * *

 

The air was thick with corruption, to the point where it was nearly tangible. The sky was so dark that the sun barely shone through. Some people were no longer people, but instead mockeries of their former selves. And yet, it seemed like a perfectly average summer day...but that was only because they couldn't see anything. Not the darkness, not the monsters, and certainly not him.

"Already running out of time, huh?" he muttered. "Looks like we'll need that extra hand if we want to make it out of this in one piece."

He cast a glance back at Marlind, eyes narrowed in some emotion caught between apprehension and determination. Then, putting the city behind him, he set off down the road, gravel crunching underfoot as the shadows thickened.


	3. Mischeif and Mysteries

The scene was a mess. There were signs of a break-in somewhere near the mall just across the street from the market, and while there were hardly any signs of any thugs about, they'd overheard a description of the suspect and where he was last seen. It was an easy enough hint to pick up on. Mere minutes later, they were dashing across the rooftops, chasing after that slippery, traitorous fox. He was toting around a sizable bag, no doubt filled with stolen goods. It was odd that he'd stooped to burglary, but Rose could question it later. Right now, he needed to be caught and interrogated at the very least.

As usual, the wind seemed to defy the weather forecast for that day and remained at their backs, driving them all forward. It was a liberating feeling, one that Rose would probably enjoy more if she wasn't currently chasing after the perpetual thorn in her side. They practically glided over the rooftops, soared over alleyways and streets. Despite his heavy load, however, Lunarre wasn't as easy prey as Rose had hoped. Still, they were gaining on him. He wasn't going to last long.

Rosh hurled a dagger up ahead just as the wind surged forward. It tore through the air, lodging itself firmly in Lunarre's shoulder just as he was clearing an alley. With a shriek, the man dropped the bag he was carrying, sending it tumbling to the streets below. Lunarre himself stumbled upon landing and skidded several yards before forcing himself to his feet.

"He's all yours, boss!" Rosh called out. "We'll take care of the goods!"

With a curt nod, Rose spun back around and charged forward again with renewed speed. Lunarre had slowed considerably, though he'd begun running a bit faster again once he pulled the knife out of his shoulder and discarded it. He was still wounded, and he'd lost his cargo, so it was enough of a small victory. Rose could easily just let him go and deliver the goods back to their rightful owners, but Lunarre needed to be stopped, and _she would stop him._

What happened next forever remained a blur in her memory. One moment, Rose was coiling down and preparing to charge forward, the next she was moving so fast, so fervently, that she could only catch snippets of what she'd done next. The air was swirling like a maddened cyclone, and she sped towards Lunarre at a speed that should have been impossible. But she hardly paid it any heed. Nothing else around her mattered except her target, and she would not stop until he was taken down.

At some point, she managed to tackle him off of the rooftop, and they plummeted to the streets below. Lunarre slammed into a car, denting the roof on impact. Rose's own descent somehow slowed as she reached the ground, enough for her to land gracefully and without pain. She should have felt victorious, but in that moment something made her wary and watchful. It was almost too easy. Lunarre had been giving her problems for almost a year now; this couldn't end that quickly.

Sure enough, the man gave a mad cackle and jumped to his feet, tearing down the road. Blood still seeped from his wound and dotted the concrete, but it hardly stopped him from running. As Rose took off again, the world once more swirled around her, the only thing in focus the man she was chasing. Only when he made a wrong turn into a dead-end alley did she feel room to stop and properly breathe.

Her hands tightened their grip on her daggers without her meaning to, and words slipped through her lips almost unbidden: "That's enough out of you."

Lunarre grinned. He almost looked amused that she'd followed him this far, or that he'd actually managed to be cornered. Not even moments after he did, he twitched, his grin fading as he glanced just past Rose. It took focus not to fall for such a bluff, but Rose held fast. This was Lunarre, after all; there was no telling how low he'd stoop or how far he'd go to evade capture again. "You can't trick me that easily," Rose growled.

Either he was clinging to his trick with every ounce of cunning he had, or something really _had_ caught his eye, because only when Rose spoke did Lunarre return his attention to her, his wicked grin returning...but it had an eerie, foreboding air of _knowing_ rather than conceit. "Long time no see,  _Boss_. I didn't know the Scattered Bones went after _petty thieves_ these days."

Rose sneered, though she knew her face wouldn't be seen through her mask. "I didn't know you stooped down to petty theft, Lunarre. Cut to the chase and tell me what you're _really_ after."

How he had the gall to laugh at such a question, she hardly knew. "And ruin all the fun? I don't _think_ so."

"I'll force it out if I have to."

"Is that supposed to _scare_ me? You've lost your touch-"

" _Answer my question_ , Lunarre."

For a moment, Lunarre shrank back, and a light breeze blew through the alley as though punctuating Rose's words. It was enough of a distraction for Rose to dart forward, closing in enough to pin Lunarre against the chain link fence and press a dagger to his throat. Tempting as it was, she wouldn't kill him yet. She still needed answers.

"I won't warn you again. Tell me what you were doing, or I'll get it out of you the hard way."

Lunarre glared at her, eyes narrowing to slits. He'd run out of room to toy with her, it seemed, and he knew it. "I was _just_ earning my bounty, is all," he snarled. "And I would've been getting paid a pretty penny by now, had you not interfered!"

"You betrayed us so that you could stoop to common burglary, then?" Rose pressed the knife closer to Lunarre's throat. "I've heard better stories from-"

A burst of searing heat slammed into her midsection and threw her back. Rose somehow managed to keep her footing, forcing her gaze back up in time to see Lunarre charging at her. His eyes were wide, his lips curled into a bloodthirsty grin. Quickly stepping out of the way, Rose made to bury her daggers in his back, or at least one of his limbs, only for him to dash past her. The man let out an almost inhuman snarl as he slid to a stop, kicking up dust as he went, and held one hand in front of him to summon - Rose thought her eyes were tricking her when she saw it - a monstrous blue flame.

Whatever kind of trick it was, Rose pushed it into the back of her mind; there'd be plenty of time to think on it later. She raced forward to attack, only barely noting how poor Lunarre's aim was, as it missed her by at least a foot and a half. She swiped a dagger across his ribs, eliciting a screech of pain from the traitorous thief. Before she could move in for the kill, however, Lunarre let out a roar of rage, and the flame in his hand burst outward, consuming his entire being and surging upward from the spot where he stood. When the flames cleared a few seconds later, he was gone without a trace.

Moments slipped by as Rose processed what she just saw. Soon enough, she scowled, slipping her daggers back into their sheathes. Whatever tricks he'd just pulled, that slippery little fox had gotten away  _again_. At least this time she was able to help minimize the damage. Still, something was nagging her. What had Lunarre been staring at when she arrived? What was he going on about? And since when was he so strong, let alone acquire the ability to summon flames? To say that something wasn't right was a vast understatement.

Rose ducked into the back alleys once more, making her way back to the rooftops to find and retrieve Rosh's dagger. Lunarre may have escaped again today, but he'd left her with a few crucial hints. He was done playing games, it seemed, done with the smaller offenses and done with merely causing trouble for the Scattered Bones to come clean up. Now, he certainly seemed up to something. Not only that, but he was doing someone's dirty work. But who, and what...?

* * *

Alisha Diphda let out a quiet sigh and brushed her hair out of her face. The festival preparations hadn't gone this roughly since she began participating in them annually, but this year seemed especially difficult, and she could always stand to have things go a little more smoothly. If that weren't enough, her usual pastimes were taking a turn for the worse as well, leaving her with little room to relax properly.

She'd requested a copy of the Celestial Record for studying purposes, only to find that neither the royal nor the public library had a copy available. She'd since sent someone to visit one of the bookstores around the city to see if there were any there she could use. Worst case scenario, she'd have to order a copy from elsewhere. Perhaps the library Marlind would have one; it wasn't far away and she might be able to get a hold of it before the festival began...  
  
"My lady..."  
  
Speaking of which. A young lady stood quietly in her doorway, hands folded neatly in front of her. She was new to the estate and a little jumpy, but thus far she'd proven incredibly reliable. Alisha offered her a warm smile. "There you are. Did you manage to find anything?"

The young servant shook her head. "I-I'm afraid not. None of the bookstores seemed to have a copy of the Celestial Record. The police had the entire area near the market closed off, so I was unable to check the stores there..."

The dismay was painfully evident on the servant's face. She'd done her best to fulfill Alisha's request, only to come up empty-handed. Alisha was disappointed, to be sure, but she couldn't help but wonder why all copies of the book had suddenly disappeared. She couldn't recall any previous occasion in which the festival prompted such a well-known text to suddenly get sold out. In fact, it was a common enough tome, on par with the likes of a dictionary or an encyclopedia. Why would it suddenly vanish like that?

A familiar ping sounded from the speakers at her computer. Deciding to ponder the matter later, she gave a quiet nod. "It's alright, Miranda. We can always check them again some other day. Thank you."

As the young servant left, Alisha made her way over to her computer, pulling up a small, blinking IM window.

 

> **_mabocurrybuns has logged in._ **
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : ALISHA! ALISHA, U THERE?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : nvm ur probably busy with all that festival stuff
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : w/e ill catch u later
> 
> **_mabocurrybuns has logged out._ **

 

There and gone like the wind, as usual. Rose could be difficult to get a hold of. Running the store was one thing, but sometimes she'd abruptly vanish for no reason. Alisha never understood it, but she'd learned long ago not to give it too much thought. Rose certainly didn't, nor did she see fit to explain just what she was up to while she was out, other than some vague response about important errands that couldn't wait. Perhaps running a store was more demanding than she thought.

Next to Rose's window was another one, with a message that had been sent much more recently...

 

> _**ruinsftw has logged in.** _
> 
> _**twin-flow has logged in.** _
> 
> **ruinsftw** : alisha! are you there?
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Sorry to keep you waiting, Sorey. I'm here.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Did you need something?
> 
> **ruinsftw** : i just wanted to say hi. mikleo and i just got home from work
> 
> **ruinsftw** : we gotta go run some errands in a bit though.
> 
> **ruinsftw** : how've you been? we haven't talked in ages!
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I'm doing well. Planning for the festival has kept me very busy.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Speaking of which... Sorey, do you mind if I borrow your copy of the Celestial Record?
> 
> **knightofladylake** : My copy seems to have gone missing, and I can't find another one anywhere. It's very strange.
> 
> **ruinsftw** : whoa, really???
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Yes. I sent Miranda out to find one at a bookstore earlier. I planned on donating it once I found my old one, but none of the stores in town have a copy, either...
> 
> **ruinsftw** : all the copies at the library are gone, too!
> 
> **ruinsftw** : maybe with the festival coming up, people finally have a lot of interest in it?
> 
> **knightofladylake** : That was my original thought, yes, but this hasn't happened before. I get the feeling something may be wrong.
> 
> **ruinsftw** : huh?
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Oh, that's right... You haven't lived here for that long. This'll be your first festival, won't it?
> 
> **ruinsftw** : yeah. i'm really looking forward to it! :D
> 
> **ruinsftw** : we're meeting rose at the food court tomorrow at 3. can you meet us there?  i can give it to you then!
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I'm afraid I can't. I still have a lot to attend to. I'm barely able to leave the house.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : My apologies, Sorey.
> 
> **ruinsftw** : that's okay! we can just bring it to you, in that case.
> 
> **twin-flow** : Just as long as you're careful with it.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : There you are, Mikleo! :)
> 
> **twin-flow** : Sorry for the wait.
> 
> **twin-flow** : SOMEONE forgot to clean out the rice cooker last night.
> 
> **ruinsftw** : i was reading! :(
> 
> **twin-flow** : Anyway, we're out of rice again, so we're going to head out and pick some up before the shop closes.
> 
> **ruinsftw** : we'll see you later, alisha!
> 
> **knightofladylake** : See you later! Say hello to Rose for me!
> 
> **twin-flow** : Will do. :)
> 
> _**ruinsftw has logged out.** _
> 
> _**twin-flow has logged out.** _

 

* * *

 

Naps solved _so many_ problems. After tough encounters like the one with Lunarre, Rose was more than ready for one. She was exhausted, in a little bit of pain, and her mind was still racing after seeing that fire that Lunarre had summoned. She'd arrived home with Rosh's knife - the Scattered Bones may have been vigilantes on the side of peace and protecting Ladylake, but the law still wasn't very keen on them or their methods, so they had to leave behind as little evidence of their presence as possible to prevent their identities from coming out - and went straight to bed. Just an hour or two, surely the twins could hold out that long before she finally felt better.

To no one's surprise, especially not Rose's, she woke up feeling refreshed, her pain was but a distant memory, and she could've sworn that some of her bruises were gone as well. Eguille had long ago chalked it up to her uncanny ability to heal quickly, but no matter what it was, Rose was thankful for it. Naps were a great problem-solver, and she swore by them.

Rosh still hadn't returned from the skirmish, but any of Rose's worries were quickly assuaged when the twins confirmed that he'd been in contact and was perfectly fine. Between the police investigating the crime scene (Why bother, Rose wondered, when Lunarre was damn near impossible for them to track down) and the festival preparations being done in a few areas of the city, getting back with a large sack of stolen goods was proving difficult. Stealth was more important than swiftness, even if it meant getting home would take a while.

Once she was properly changed into a more civilian-friendly outfit, Rose headed downstairs to check on the twins and help out any customers. The shop wasn't that big, all things considered; it was about twice the size of a convenience store with a small selection of food and other necessities, with another section dedicated to souvenirs for the tourists and a few of the Sparrowfeathers' own specialty goods. All of that combined with the Sparrowfeathers' business filling special orders kept business flowing quite well. In fact, in any normal situation, they'd probably have enough to open up a new location, or even expand. However, a lot of that extra money went into their side job as the Scattered Bones, and even that aside, everyone was perfectly content with having just one small location. Maybe they'd get themselves a fancier booth at the festival this year with all that money.

As it turned out, Rose picked a refreshing time to head down and check on the store. In one of the food aisles was a familiar young man, dressed in a blue hoodie and a pair of slacks, with a mop of unkempt brunette hair and a set of feathered ear cuffs. Next to him was...a bag of brown rice, floating in midair.

Sorey and Mikleo.

Rose repressed a shudder; just because she was used to Mikleo being around hardly meant she wasn't any less creeped out by it. At least he'd been considerate so far, as her first meeting with him had been met with a hefty amount of anxiety, screaming, and a punch that actually managed to connect with his jaw. She'd apologized for it later, but Mikleo had more than taken the hint to be careful not to spook her.

It was only a moment or two before Sorey noticed Rose heading her way, and he looked up to giver her his usual cheerful smile. "Hey, Rose!"

"Hey to you, Sorey!" Rose called, waving to him. "Haven't seen you here in a while."

"Work's been keeping me late," Sorey explained. "Alisha says hi, by the way."

"So she _did_ get my message." Rose folded her arms. "Between all those preparations she makes and all the errands I've got to run, it's almost impossible to get a hold of her. You're the only one out of the three of us that manages to hold down a regular schedule most of the time."

There was a pause as Sorey glanced at the empty space next to him. "Well," he began, grinning sheepishly, "Technically, _four_ of us, but-"

The bag of rice was abruptly shoved into Sorey's arms, cutting him off with a surprised yelp.

"What brings you two here, anyway?" Rose asked.

"Just running a few errands of our own," Sorey replied. "We ran out of rice last night."

Rose gave Sorey a doubtful look. "Again? Do you two eat anything other than rice?"

Sorey shrugged. "Well, it _is_ pretty convenient to make."

Of course he would use that excuse. Rose knew better than anyone what was really going on; Mikleo had clued her in over a private IM before that it wasn't just Sorey's awful eating habits (or lack thereof) at play. Snatching up an apple from where the produce sat nearby, Rose tossed it at Sorey. "Here, food's on me this time. You can't live on rice and ramen, Sorey."

Before the boy could utter a reply, Rose felt a tap on her shoulder. Behind her stood one of the twins, his cheery smile betraying a hint of urgency. "What is it, Talfryn?"

"We just heard back from Rosh," Talfryn said. "He should be back in about half an hour."

Though it was unspoken, Rose knew that Rosh would need to speak to everyone once he got back. After all, he had some important evidence with him, and they'd need to sort through it and get the stolen goods back to their rightful owners. Rose grinned. "Sure thing," she replied. "Thanks for letting me know."

With his own nod of understanding, Talfryn headed back to the cash register. Sorey tilted his head. "What's going on?"

"Rosh headed out to run some errands a while back and ran into some traffic," Rose explained. It wasn't entirely wrong, but she couldn't risk Sorey knowing about her more dangerous side occupation. He may be a friend, but the Scattered Bones were still top secret for everyone's safety, both the group and the civilians alike. Even if they helped keep things safe and did away with criminals, their poor reputation and relationship with the authorities meant they couldn't reveal who they were. Excuses like this were so commonplace and so well-established that Rose hardly even needed to think twice when she mentioned them.

As usual, though, Sorey bought it. "Oh, right! We had some trouble getting here, too. It's a lot easier on foot, but traffic was all held up because of some incident over at the marketplace..." Sorey's voice trailed off as he paused, tilting his head and staring in concern at Rose...and leaning a little to the side to gaze right past her, towards the back desk.

Rose turned around to see what was going on, but the only thing happening was Felice helping another customer with a special order. "What?" She asked.

He blinked a few times, but then Sorey shook his head. "N-Nevermind. It's nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Just...thought I saw something, that's all." He offered his usual reassuring smile. Before Rose had any more time to dwell on it, he cleared his throat. "Anyway, we should get home before traffic gets worse again. See you around tomorrow?"

Rose grinned, placing her hands on her hips. "Same time, same place!"

It took some convincing, but Rose had insisted that Sorey not pay for the food she'd shoved at him that trip. Mikleo must have helped, because he conceded quicker than usual. Shortly after they left, Rose got a text from Mikleo promising he'd make sure Sorey actually ate properly between his binge-reading sessions.

Just as Rose was beginning to write up everything she'd given to Sorey, she felt a breeze blow past her face. She glanced up, expecting to have to close a window, or perhaps someone had walked in the door...but there was nothing. The windows were closed, and there weren't any other customers. It couldn't have been from when Sorey left; the automatic door wasn't open long enough to let a breeze in, let alone one that blew by a good two to three minutes later.

After a few moments of thought, Rose shrugged, and headed to the front to put up the _CLOSED_ sign in preparation for Rosh's arrival. Perhaps it was nothing.


	4. Something Bigger

"Are you _still_ awake?"

Sorey looked up from the Celestial Record, wholly unaware of the dark circles that had begun forming under his eyes. "Huh?" He replied blearily.

Mikleo rested one hand on his hip and gave Sorey a half-hearted glare. Of course he would be half-asleep reading again; whenever Sorey got his nose in a book, it was as though time lost all meaning to him. "It's almost two in the morning," Mikleo said. "Go to bed already."

"But _you're_ still up!" Sorey protested.

The young water seraph rolled his eyes. "I don't need sleep the way you do, remember? The Celestial Record isn't going anywhere, Sorey. You can read it some more in the morning."

Several more excuses and a mug of hot chocolate later, Sorey was reluctantly in bed and asleep. Mikleo let out a sigh; Sorey really could be a handful sometimes. He swore the boy would get into a lot more trouble if he weren't around to reign him in before it was too late, but he didn't mind. Sorey was the most important thing in the world to him, after all, even long before they'd decided to move to Ladylake.

Mikleo gently closed the bedroom door (he had to lift it a certain way so it wouldn't get stuck on the frame; Sorey had figured out that trick shortly after they'd finished moving in) and headed to the kitchen to finish up a few more chores before he got some rest himself. He could join him once he'd cleaned up all the bowls Sorey had used up and subsequently scattered about the living room while he was preoccupied. Their apartment didn't come with a dishwasher, so they had to clean all of the dishes by hand. Mikleo didn't mind it much; it gave him something to do and-

Frowning, he turned the knob next to the faucet a few more times. No water came out. It wasn't broken again, was it? He didn't even hear or otherwise sense any water running in the pipes. Did Sorey...? The young seraph cast a weary glance at the bedroom door before shaking his head and placing the small stack of bowls in the sink anyway. It was certainly more convenient to just use the sink the way it was intended, but with no running water, he'd have to cheat this a little bit. At least artes made it go by a little faster.

He was just finishing up and drying off the first bowl when he heard footsteps on the balcony. Warily, Mikleo summoned his staff, stepping slowly towards the window. Crime wasn't exactly common in Ladylake - not with vigilantes like the Scattered Bones running around - but that hardly meant there weren't still thieves seeking out the perfect place to rob. From where he stood, he saw no one on their balcony. On the building across from theirs, however, a shadow of a person stood on one of the unoccupied balconies. Mikleo couldn't make out any particular features other than the fact that they seemed to be quietly watching him. He shuddered; were they staring into the apartment itself, at the dishes that seemed to be washing themselves...or could they actually _see_ him?

By the time Mikleo got the window open and peered outside for a better look, the stranger was gone without a trace. He looked around, seeking some sign of her presence, but it was too dark to really see anything. As much as he tried to dismiss it as just his imagination, he couldn't deny that he really did see someone there. No sooner than the thought crossed his mind did a sudden pang of nausea wash over him, and he closed the window firmly. He hadn't told Sorey yet, but being in the city tended to take a toll on him. So long as the two remained close to one another, though, he felt fine. He never really was sure why, but didn't think to question it too much, either. In a way, Sorey seemed to look out for Mikleo just as much as Mikleo looked out for Sorey, even if he wasn't aware of it.

Just to be on the safe side, Mikleo closed the blinds before heading back to his chores.

 

* * *

 

There was a spare room upstairs that had no windows and only a single door. It was a perfect meeting room for the Scattered Bones, aside perhaps from the fact that it was a little dimly lit and could get a little stuffy. The twins ended up installing some extra lighting, and several summers ago, someone had set up a fan for good measure.

Everyone was ready and waiting for Rose when she got there, in uniform and eagerly awaiting her report. Good. That would save her plenty of time. "He put up a fight, as usual, but I got him to talk before he got away."

"What'd you get out of him?" Eguile asked.

"Only that he did this as a job for someone else," Rose said. "I got him to mention something about earning a bounty, but I couldn't get anything else before he escaped."

"So someone's paying him to do their dirty work," Talfryn remarked. "It's not like Lunarre to take up petty thievery, even for pay. Whoever hired him for his job must've been offering him a _lot_ of gald."

"Do we have any leads on who his client is?" Rosh asked.

Rose shook her head. "Only whatever's in that sack. What've we got?"

All heads turned to Rosh. His expression was stern, but laced with confusion as he picked up the bag and set it on the table in the center of the room. "Books," he explained. "Lots of them."

It was enough to make her pause. If Lunarre had taken valuables or other oddities, that would narrow it down to several obvious suspects she'd been eyeing for some time. But books...?

"What's his client want with a bunch of books?" Felice asked, echoing Rose's thoughts.

"I know _one_ way to find out." Rose opened up the sack and peered in. Rosh wasn't kidding; there were a _ton_ of books inside, enough to make Rose wonder how Lunarre could carry something so heavy while running from them. Some of the books had price tags attached to them, while others had seen varying degrees of use. She opened up the cover of one of the used ones, her eyes narrowing in thought as she found a library card pocket glued to the front cover. Most of them were hardcover, while some appeared to be paperback. There were even a few fancier ones (especially among the used ones) that had leather covers or gold leaf. But all of them had something in common: the cover was almost always a dark red; and there was a stylized, decorative gold symbol on the front, be it printed somehow, embossed, or made of an actual metal. Rose had little interest in literature, but she'd lived in Ladylake long enough to recognize it anywhere.

"They're all copies of the Celestial Record."

There were a few sounds of surprise from the others while Rose examined one of the fancier copies more closely. As she did, a few puzzle pieces clicked into place. Alisha had mentioned trying to track down a book and having trouble to do so, and Sorey had talked about patrons having some similar troubles at the library. Lunarre _had_ to be the one responsible for it all, or at least the copies in the bag. Still...

"What would _anyone_ want with so many copies of the Celestial Record?" Felice asked. "You'd think _one_ would be more than enough."

Rose shook her head. "I don't think his employer just wanted something to read. They wanted _every single copy_ ; and they were willing to hire Lunarre, of all people, to do their dirty work." Warily, she looked back up at the other vigilantes. "I dunno about you guys, but I get the feeling that there's something big going on here."

The look on everyone's face spoke volumes of their shared anxious agreement: This was no mere theft. Someone either wanted this book all to themselves, or simply _gone_. And while Rose was hardly the history fanatic that Sorey was, she knew that the Celestial Record held a _lot_ of historical and cultural importance, even if a lot of it was just fairy tales. For someone to try and take away something like that could only mean that there was something sinister afoot. If only she could figure out _what_...

No. Whatever it was, she couldn't let that happen. The Windriders may have had their names tarnished, but the Scattered Bones were still here to protect the city, and that was precisely what she would do. Rose shook the dark feelings from her mind and she stood upright. "We can investigate on this some more when we're all rested up. For now, let's figure out who all these books belong to and get 'em back home. Rosh, I want you and Eguille to mind the shop for the rest of the evening and tomorrow. Felice, Talfryn, you'll be returning these books back to where they came from. I'll be doing some of my own investigating. If anyone finds out anything, let the rest of us know as soon as possible."

Rose's resolve was contagious as always, and the meeting ended almost as quickly as it began. It was getting late, so Rose opted to head on up to her room, firmly closing the door behind her and flopping onto her bed. She let out a groan of frustration; she'd hoped whatever this mess was turned out to be a weird anomaly, but of all things, it ended up being bigger than anyone thought. She briefly considered skipping her outing with Sorey in favor of investigating, but considering his connection with the library, maybe she could get some leads out of him via cleverly-guided seemingly-casual conversation. The break would help keep her nerves intact, too, despite the presence of Sorey's invisible companion.

As though summoned by her passing feeling of paranoia, a breeze blew through her room. Rose shivered, sitting up and glancing at the window. Still open, no matter how many times she closed it. Maybe the lock was broken? Nonetheless, she stood up and shut it again. No sooner than she sat back down did she hear a click as it nudged open once more. Rose glared at the window. "Fine," she grumbled. "Stay open, see if I care!"

Another breeze blew through, as though mocking her. She ignored it, opening up her laptop. She really needed to get her mind off of this right now..

 

> _**knightofladylake has logged in.** _
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : FINALLY
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : i swear ur never on whenever i wanna talk to u!!!
> 
> **knightofladylake** : My apologies, Rose. Preparing for the festival has kept me very occupied.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : You seem to be missing quite often lately, as well. Is the shop getting busy?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : lol u have NO IDEA
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : i guess u cant meet up with me and sorey and mikleo tomorrow then huh?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : were gonna go to the mall and hang out
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I'm afraid I can't. With the Sacred Blade Festival this close, my hands are tied.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Sorey is stopping by tomorrow to lend me his copy of the Celestial Record, though. Perhaps you could come with him?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : dont u have a copy of that old book tho?
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Yes, but it seems to have gone missing. I must have misplaced it.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I sent Miranda to fetch a copy from the library, but all of them have already been rented out, it seems.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : In addition, none of the bookstores seemed to have a copy, either...
> 
> **knightofladylake** : ...Rose? Are you still there?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : sry i got distracted
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : that really sux tho :((( i hope u find ur copy soon
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : i mean i dont care abt all that history stuff but i kno how important it is to u
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Thank you, Rose.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : but yeah ill swing by w sorey and mikleo
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : even tho he still gives me the CREEPS
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : hes not that bad i guess
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Sorey mentioned that Mikleo is the only seraph in Ladylake. He hasn't seen or met any others.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : GOOD
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : can u IMAGINE how creepy it would be if there were MORE?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : like
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : there could be one standin in my room RIGHT NOW and i wouldnt kno bc i cant see them or anything
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : nooooot a fan of having more of them around tbh
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I can't imagine it would be all THAT bad...
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I know some local legends seem to portray them as troublemakers, but Mikleo has been nothing but kind-hearted to all of us.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : There's still a lot about Seraphim that we don't know. A lot of it has been lost to history.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : The only things we really have to go on are the old legends that speak of their great power and benevolence, and how they used to fight alongside the Shepherd.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : thats what the festival is all about right?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : that old ceremony thing where the shepherd would draw the sacred blade and stuff?
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Yes.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I didn't know you had developed an interest in local folklore, Rose.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : lol nah
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : sorey never shuts up abt it so if i know anything its because of him and mikleo
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : anyway imma go 2 bed im SUUUUPER tired from today
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I think I will head off as well. I'll see you tomorrow, Rose.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Good night!
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : night alisha!
> 
> **_mabocurrybuns has logged off._ **
> 
> **_knightofladylake has logged off._ **

 

* * *

 

> _**Aegis has logged in.** _
> 
> **Aegis** : Good evening, Mikleo. Shouldn't you be in bed at this hour?
> 
> **twin-flow** : You again?!
> 
> **Aegis** : Me again.
> 
> **twin-flow** : What do you want?
> 
> **Aegis** : Just checking in. As usual.
> 
> **twin-flow** : You're really starting to annoy me.
> 
> **Aegis** : I know. But this is what you get for making stupid decisions.
> 
> **twin-flow** : What are you talking about?
> 
> **Aegis** : You would know what I was talking about if you listened to me in the first place.
> 
> **Aegis** : Instead, here you are, acting like I'm some kind of creeper when I'm just trying to help you.
> 
> **twin-flow** : That's because you've done nothing but act dubious from day one.
> 
> **twin-flow** : You keep messaging me and saying you're just checking on me, you know WAY too much about me and Sorey, and you don't even bother telling me anything about yourself!
> 
> **twin-flow** : How is that NOT supposed to be suspicious?!
> 
> **Aegis** : It's only suspicious you let it be suspicious.
> 
> **Aegis** : I don't even want to be contacting you. Not like this, anyway.
> 
> **Aegis** : But I don't have much of a choice. You can't exactly use a phone, can you?
> 
> **Aegis** : A seraph's voice wouldn't go through.
> 
> **twin-flow** : How do you even know I'm a seraph? Most people don't even think they're real!
> 
> **Aegis** : That's a shame. Because seraphim ARE real. VERY real.
> 
> **Aegis** : More real than a lot of people think.
> 
> **twin-flow** : What are you getting at?
> 
> **Aegis** : Is it not obvious yet? My bad. I wasn't aware I had to spell everything out for you.
> 
> **Aegis** : When are you going to use your brain?
> 
> **twin-flow** : When are YOU going to give me any straight answers?
> 
> **Aegis** : Sorry. This is the way it has to be.
> 
> **Aegis** : Don't worry, though. You'll figure it all out eventually.
> 
> **Aegis** : Again.
> 
> **Aegis** : Anyway, be careful tomorrow. The city's a dangerous place, you know.
> 
> **twin-flow** : You don't have to warn me. I'm not a little kid.
> 
> **Aegis** : Could have fooled me.
> 
> **twin-flow** : If you really are concerned, you've sure got a funny way of showing it!
> 
> **twin-flow** : Who are you, Aegis?!
> 
> **Aegis** : I've told you a million times. I'm someone who's TRYING to look after you.
> 
> **Aegis** : You ungrateful brat.
> 
> **twin-flow** : I can handle myself just fine.
> 
> **Aegis** : And what about Sorey? How long do you think you can keep him safe?
> 
> **twin-flow** : Leave Sorey OUT OF THIS!!!
> 
> **Aegis** : Too late. He's already a part of this. A huge part.
> 
> **Aegis** : Always has been. Always will be.
> 
> **twin-flow** : What?
> 
> **twin-flow** : What do you mean, he's already a part of this?!
> 
> **twin-flow** : What's going on?!
> 
> **Aegis** : Don't bother asking me. I'm not going to explain that, either.
> 
> **Aegis** : Sleep tight. Don't let the hellions bite.
> 
> _**Aegis has logged off.** _

 


	5. Warning Signs

_Sweeping cliffs, towering mountains. The rush of rivers, the dancing of flames. Roaring winds and rumbling earth. He saw them. Heard them. Felt them._ Was _them.  
_

_The grass beneath him swayed as the sun rose...or was it setting?...on the horizon. It was beautiful, quite possibly the most majestic thing he'd seen. And yet he could feel how wrought it was with chaos and danger. Still and throbbing all at once. He stood without any companions at his side. No one to gaze upon this with him, no one with which to share this experience.  
_

_And yet he felt something within. Deep in his heart, he could not feel alone. There was a presence with him, one he did not know, and yet it felt all too familiar. He felt a strength he could barely contain, pulsing through every fiber of his being. It was foreign to him, it didn't belong to him. It threatened to burst out of him at any moment, as though one wrong move could cause it to destroy him from the inside out. And yet he knew he was the only one with the strength to hold it. But more than that...he was_ meant _for it. It remained inside him, coiled and ready to be unleashed at the slightest command. It pulsed with a life of its own, yet it was as though it was hardly separate from his own being.  
_

_Voices from both within and without. They called his name. They rallied him forth. They guided his hand. They watched over him. They protected_ him _just as much as he protected_ them _._

_He lifted his hand, as though reaching for something in the sky. On it was a glove, adorned with a feathered bracelet and the familiar emblem of the Shepherd that the legend spoke of. (But why was he wearing it?)_

_The emblem flared, burning but not scorching. The dark clouds in the sky cleared, revealing clear blue skies and sparkling stars. But no sooner than he began to appreciate the beauty of the night sky did the dark clouds swarm back in, defying his command (wait,_ his _...?) for them to clear. And they came back stronger and darker. The air became thick and difficult to breathe, and a weight pressed in on him from all sides. He heard the screams of terrified innocents, soon drowned out by the howling of angered, bloodthirsty beasts. It began as a dull rumble, growing into a fierce screech. It deafened him, as the darkness blinded him. Before he could think to fight back, his power was rapidly sapped away, leaving him with barely the strength to stand. His lungs screamed for clean air, his skin burned with pain. And then the ground split open and he fell, swallowed up by the rapidly-growing chasm._

Sorey's eyes snapped open, and he woke with a start. It took him a moment to realize he'd been gasping for breath, but he gradually calmed, his breath slowing and his racing heart calming.

Right. It was just a dream.

He flopped back onto his bed, the springs in the mattress squeaking in protest as he stared at the ceiling. He'd been having some strange dreams as of late. Given how they seemed to get worse and worse, though, maybe "nightmare" would be a better term for them. Stranger still was just how real they all felt, like they were hardly dreams at all. This one in particular was leagues worse than the others.

Maybe Mikleo was right. Maybe he was just worn out from all the long days at work and late nights reading. Too many times he'd been scolded by the young water seraph for getting only five hours of sleep instead of the usual seven or eight that he'd be satisfied with. It was too late in the night to hope that a good cup of chamomile tea would calm him down, though. He'd just have to hope that a more restful sleep would come his way.

 

* * *

 

The next morning found Sorey still mentally tired, but at least he'd managed to get a little sleep. Mikleo must have noticed that the night hadn't gone well, because the breakfast he'd made morning was especially comforting despite not being particularly fancy. Even with what little they had to work with, Mikleo had always found ways to get creative on special occasions. Unfortunately, he'd insisted that Sorey wait before fixing him any ice cream ("No matter how many times you ask me, Sorey, the answer's still no!" He'd said, though he promised to make some later.). Before long, though, they were headed out the door.

It was a real shame that Alisha's copy of the Celestial Record had gone missing; she loved that book almost as much as Sorey did. Granted, it wasn't the only reason Sorey kept it with him at all times. Zenrus - the seraph that had raised him and Mikleo when they still lived in Elysia - had instructed him to keep it safe no matter what. He trusted Alisha, though; she _had_ been the one to help him settle into life around other humans, after all. The tall buildings and technology had all been incredibly foreign to them, let alone the general way of life. Sorey had no concept of money or jobs or anything of the sort, and it was only by Alisha's good will that he was able to get settled as quickly and as easily as he did. He'd barely been able to properly pay her back for it all, though fortunately she was quite content just to visit him every so often. Alisha wouldn't outright admit it, but she could get quite stressed and tired with all the pressure she put up with on a daily basis. Sorey was more than eager to help her relax a little and be herself instead of tending to princess-related duties and chores all the time.

"I know you're eager to see her," Mikleo said, "But is it really a safe idea to cut through this alley?"

"It'll be fine!" Sorey replied, a bright smile on his face. "This is a pretty safe part of town, right?"

Mikleo wasn't convinced. "A creepy alley is still a creepy alley no matter where it is," he commented, but followed Sorey anyway.

The alley was a bit dark, shadowed by the tall buildings on either side of it. Each step that the two of them took echoed off the walls, the dirt under their shoes crunching against the concrete. The air felt a bit stale, and Sorey was already regretting taking this uncomfortable path, despite how much time he'd save. Still, it wasn't for long, they were already halfway through after a few seconds of walking.

As they passed by a dumpster, Mikleo let out a quiet grunt in pain, steadying himself on Sorey with one hand as the other clutched his chest. Alarmed, Sorey turned to his seraph companion and grasped his shoulders. "Mikleo?"

The young water seraph shook his head. "I-I'm fine," he said, straightening again. "But something doesn't feel right. We shouldn't stick around here."

Sorey was just about to ask Mikleo to explain what he meant when a voice reached his ears from far above him.

"Oh? It looks like I missed one..."

A shadow passed over their heads, and a burst of blue flame exploded in front of them, sending them flying backward. The shadow landed amidst the smoke and kicked up dust, standing slowly and leering at them. Sorey scrambled to his feet, holding onto Mikleo's arm to help him up as well. As the dark clouds cleared, their attacker's form became clear: a man dressed in a dark jacket and pants, outfitted with running boots and gloves that had made way for long claws that had sliced through the leather. He should have been human, but even aside from the claws, there was something...off. The narrowed eyes, the long ears, the fangs. The long ponytail, that looked all too reminiscent of a fox's tail. His posture, where he looked ready to leap upon them at any given second.

"I'd ask you to hand over that book of yours," the man growled, "But it seems you've brought me a lovely side dish as well."

"Side dish?" Sorey echoed, taking a wary step back. He didn't like where this was going. Mikleo was right; they needed to leave. _Now._

The man grinned. "Did I stutter? _I said I'm going to eat you!"_

There was barely any time to move when the man lunged at them, clawed hands slashing at Sorey and missing by inches. In a flash of light, Mikleo summoned his staff and begun channeling a seraphic arte. Sorey grabbed the nearest object in reach - a wooden plank with a nail in the end of it - and immediately placed himself between their attacker and his companion. He really hoped he wouldn't have to use the weapon.

"Is that the best you can do?" The man taunted. "A _stick?_ That sort of thing is only good for _kindling!"_

As if to punctuate his words, blue flames roared to life in his hands. He had all of a split second to process it before they were flung through the air towards him, engulfing his weapon even as he held it up to protect himself. As his attacker lunged, Sorey swung the flaming plank at him with all the strength he could muster, only to miss by inches as the man barreled into Mikleo, pummeling him and sending him skidding down the alley. His claws made their way to Sorey next, striking at his weapon and reducing the already-brittle wood to cinders.

"Hand over the book," the fox-man snarled, "And _maybe_ I won't kill you!"

The ferocity and absurdity of the demand was enough to cause Sorey's thoughts to screech to a halt. All of this just for a book? But why?

Sorey remembered a few choice words that Zenrus had told him: _"Never let that book out of your sight. It is a precious artifact, and it will become an invaluable tool to you in the future."_

What was so special about the Celestial Record? There were other copies of it, certainly; his was hardly all that special aside from his own sentimental reasons. Even without his guardian's advice, such a thing was too precious to him to just hand over on some violent stranger's demand. Sorey took a step back towards Mikleo, his grip tightening around the Celestial Record. "I'm sorry," He said, kind words betraying his fierce expression, "But I can't let you have this."

He expected the man to get angry, but instead he laughed. "Very _well_. I was worried this wasn't going to be any fun, anyway!"

The flames surged in the man's hand, burning bigger and darker than before as he raced forward, claws extended and fangs bared in a manic grin. With his weapon gone and Mikleo down for the count, Sorey was helpless. He raised his arms in a panic, bracing himself for the flames' impact.

It never came.

An odd whistling sound rang out as a whip lashed through the air, latching onto the man's arm and yanking him back. He slammed into the ground, letting out a screech of protest. As he scrambled to his feet, he snarled like a cornered beast, thrashing in vain to free his arm.

Sorey traced the line that entangled his attacker to a tall, muscular man standing at the other end of the alley, garbed in a pair of slacks, boots, little else. On his head was a black top hat, adorned with large brass medallions. Long silver hair billowed in the wind - how was there wind in an alleyway? - and he gazed at the fox-man with a wide grin.

"So _that's_ where you ran off to," the tall man remarked. "Should've figured we'd all end up in the same place."

He jerked the line, slamming the Sorey's assailant into the ground again before releasing him, allowing the whip to retract back to his wrist. The object at the end vanished beneath one of the stranger's long leather wrist straps before Sorey could see what it was.

"Who are you?!" the fox-man screeched.

The man gestured broadly, a taunting smirk on his face. "What's wrong, Lunarre? Don't remember me?"

Lunarre sneered, clearly in a humorless mood. "I don't know what you're talking about," he growled, a flame appearing in his hands, "But you'll make just as good a snack as these two will!"

Blue flames shot out towards the stranger, but they never reached him. In a single, swift motion, he _slashed_ the flames out of the air with the same whip-like lines that retreated back to his wrists just as quickly as they had appeared. It was only then, watching the battle from the sidelines, did Sorey notice an important detail about the stranger that he'd missed before: the man's hair wasn't just silver. It was tipped in green. People dying the tips of their hair wasn't uncommon, especially in Ladylake, but that was mostly something that the local youth would do. Either this man was one of the more unusual ones following the fad, or maybe he...

His thoughts were broken by the the feeling of someone grabbing his shoulder. Mikleo was next to him, scuffed up and dirty but otherwise unharmed. "Are you okay?!" The young water seraph asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Sorey pushed himself to his feet. He had a few bruises, for sure, but nothing was broken or permanently damaged.

No sooner than he'd gained his footing did the stranger slide in front of them, one of the lines attached to his wrists lowering to reveal what had been attached to the end: a crystalline pendulum of sorts. As it swayed back and forth, the wind stirred. "I'll handle this, Sorey! Get going!"

Sorey's jaw dropped. "How do you know my-"

The man lashed out with his pendulum and the wind surged, forming an enormous set of green jaws that smashed down on Lunarre before he could move. An inhuman screech of pain tore out of his throat as he crumbled to the ground, only to rise again moments later. Sorey could hardly believe it; that  _had_ to be a seraphic arte. Which could only mean...

_This man...he's a seraph?!_

The strange man turned to glare at them from the corner of his eye. "You got fluff in your ears or something? I said _RUN!"_

They didn't need to be told twice. Sorey and Mikleo took off down the alleyway, the sounds of battle quickly fading behind them.

 

* * *

 

Rose felt like she was being watched.  
  
Not that that was any different from how things had been lately. In fact, she'd never really felt this until earlier in the week, but refrained from telling the others. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to worry them, but rather she simply wasn't bothered by it. Now, things were different. It was less of a subtle feeling and more of a chill up her spine. She did her best to ignore it; she was still armed by way of concealed daggers (firearms were much easier to conceal, but they were too expensive, too rare, and hardly reliable in comparison) in case things got dangerous. Even then, Rose doubted she'd need to use more than her fists to fix any problem that came her way. Ladylake was relatively safe, after all; the Scattered Bones kept crime well under control and did much to discourage unlawful activities.

Even though they usually met in the food court, Rose had opted to wait just outside first. Sorey was stopping by Alisha's place on the way to drop off something, so he was going to be a little late. But she hardly expected him to be quite _this_ late. It, and the strangely shifting wind, only added to the sense of unease that clouded her mind. An easy reassurance for her was the fact that Sorey would always text her in case anything came up, and he had yet to do so. Maybe he just ran into some traffic on the way.

In the meantime, Rose busied herself with watching a small group of stray dogs crowded around one of the trees in the mall's front plaza. They were a cute bunch, if a bit odd with the way they always had a blank space right in the middle of their little crowd. Sometimes, the dogs would follow her around from a distance, tails wagging and ears perked. Although she tried to ignore them, Rose couldn't help but toss them a cookie every so often. They were remarkably well-behaved and never caused any trouble; if it weren't for how busy she was with both the Scattered Bones business and the shop, she'd adopt all five of them.

Rose was just standing up to stretch her legs when one of the canines - a Falkewin Terrier - began barking and growling, its fur standing on end and its ears flattened against its skull. He was the smallest of the lot (and arguably the cutest), but it sure looked angry, and its barks were loud enough to turn heads all around the plaza. The other dogs soon joined, though opting to snarl and growl rather than bark nearly as often.

It didn't take long for Rose to realize just what had the dogs so upset, as the sound of shattering glass could be heard behind her. A tall, somewhat muscular man went flying through a restaurant window, landing on the ground outside with a thud. Leaping through the window after him was another, smaller man. He looked especially enraged, his teeth bared in a snarl. Rose was in a ready stance almost right away, one hand reaching for her phone to send a signal to the patrols. What the hell was going on here?!

But there was something in the man's eyes, she realized when she got a good look at him. An almost feral anger had taken root in him. Something about that man simply wasn't natural.

Two more men followed the assailant, intent on continuing to harass the victim they'd just thrown through the glass. Rose swore under her breath, charging forward. Things were moving too quickly; she'd just have to deal with this herself. Security was no doubt nearby, and if she could make enough of a mess, they'd pick up on it and alert the Scattered Bones for her. She took a deep breath and shouted as loud as she could. " _Hey!_ Leave him alone!"

It worked...at first. The three men paused, raising their gaze at an eerily slow pace to meet Rose. Other bystanders were scattering, a few already dialing on their phones, and others frantically chatting amongst themselves ("Where are the police?" "Forget the police, where are the Scattered Bones?!"). What was important was that they were clearing the area and getting away from danger. That would leave Rose with plenty of room to deal with these creeps and hold out until either the authorities or the local vigilante justice took over from there.

A deep, guttural growl emerged from one of the men's throats, and he lunged forward. Rose leapt out of the way, rebounding off of another one of the trees to jump back towards the man and deliver a swift kick in the side. The wind began to pick up, propelling her forward just quickly enough to send the man tumbling to the ground. She allowed herself a triumphant grin, but quickly found that such a simple tactic wasn't enough. The other two men, having forgotten their previous victim, charged forward. Their fingers were coiled and flexed like claws, their teeth bared like they were savage beasts. Their eyes flared in rage, and they screamed words that Rose didn't dare try to comprehend while trying to defend herself. Their meanings were lost on her either way; she had no intention of talking with these guys one way or another if they were just going to lash out at her like that.

And lashing they were, trying to strike at her like their hands were claws, punch at her or kick her. Rose effortlessly dodged it all, the wind at her back like it always was, and she began to grit her teeth in frustration. _Damn it, where's security?! They should've been here by now!_

That single moment of frustration, that sliver of a moment for Rose to lose focus was all it took. One of the men crouched down on all fours and charged at her like some kind of beast, ramming into her and knocking her off balance. While Rose easily managed to right herself, she wasn't fast enough to prevent him from getting close. The crazed attacker struck her on the side, but where Rose was expecting to be punched, she felt a sharp pain dig into her skin, followed by a searing sensation that reached all the way through to her ribs. She let out a shocked cry of pain and scampered back, mustering all of her willpower not to clutch at the wound.

It was only when Rose felt something warm and wet dripping down her side that she actually managed to spare a glance. Her clothing had been sliced through, and there was blood seeping from the claw-like tears in her skin. A pulse of fear rippled through her. She was no stranger to injuries, but this was unlike anything she'd dealt with. These were ordinary, unarmed men. No way in _hell_ could fingernails rip through fabric and flesh like that.

There was a flash of green and black out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly, the man that had clawed at her was being thrown through the air, smashing into one of the pillars in front of the restaurant and crumbling to the ground. It should have at least been enough to knock him out, but the man was already beginning to struggle to his feet. As the other two made their approach, an intense burst of wind tore through the plaza, flinging them back like rag dolls.

Rose stared in shock at the scene before her; her attackers were curled up on the ground hissing in pain while bystanders stared in astonishment, slowly backing away. But whatever the hell had just happened wasn't finished. An X-shaped pattern appeared on the ground, glowing ominously for moments before an intense burst of wind surged from beneath it, flinging the men into the air one more time before something jerked two of them out of the air and slammed them into the ground one more time. The crazed strangers lay on the ground, still breathing, but unconscious.

The silence that followed was almost deafening, and the sounds of security arriving on the scene were all but muffled in her ears. Rose finally permitted one hand to clutch her side, ignoring the sticky wet feeling of blood oozing between her fingers as she spun on her heels and ran, the stray dogs following her after a moment of staring. The wind surged behind her, speeding her along, and she'd never been so thankful for it in her life. There was no way she was sticking around the plaza after a scene like that. She could fill in Sorey and Mikleo later. Right now, she needed to report this to the others. And, most importantly, she needed help.


	6. Uncertainty

_Great power almost always comes at great sacrifice. This is true among both humans and seraphim. The Shepherd is able to quell hellions and wield magnificent powers, at the cost of being alone and bearing heavy burdens that not even the most stalwart of companions can aid him with. Among Seraphim in particular is the Oath. To gain incredible power, the seraph must first swear something away. Breaking the oath means losing that power. Though the most notable ability gained this way is the power of purification and potent illusory artes, this is far from the only kind of power that can be gained this way._

_Regrettably, my knowledge on the topic is not as thorough as I would like it to be. It has been said, in the past, that an oath is more trouble than it is worth. That discovering one's own true strength is a far more viable path than taking an oath to achieve the same. Even so, there are some things that one's own natural strength alone cannot solve, and so one is forced to take such extreme measures..._

 

* * *

 

It had taken some time for them to catch their breath. They hadn't stopped running until they were merely a block or two away from Alisha's manor, and only then did they dare to slow down. Sorey was bracing himself on a light post nearby, while Mikleo somehow managed to remain upright. Neither of them said a word, their lungs screaming for air and their legs demanding rest from their mad dash across town. The sounds of roaring flames and whip-cracks and swirling winds still resounded in Sorey's ears, even though they were well out of danger.

"That man that saved us," Sorey said, finally standing upright again. "He was definitely using seraphic artes."

"Guess I'm not the only seraph in Ladylake after all," Mikleo noted.

"How come we've never seen him before?"

"Well, Ladylake's a pretty big city. Besides, we haven't even been here for that long." Mikleo cast a glance at Sorey. "All of which makes it even stranger that he knew your name."

It _was_ strange. Sorey wasn't exactly a celebrity in Ladylake, so it wasn't very likely that the seraph would've heard about him from anyone other than Rose and Alisha. He hadn't ever been around the library, either. While it was totally possible that the strange seraph could have found out about him through some kind of coincidence, Sorey couldn't help but feel that there was something else at work. Especially considering the fact that he also knew the strange fox-man that had attacked them. If he ever saw that seraph again, he'd certainly have to thank him for saving his life. Hopefully they wouldn't need that kind of help again...

Sorey's thoughts were broken by a familiar beeping from his pocket. Fishing out his phone, he unlocked it as Mikleo peered over at him. "What is it?"

"It's a text from Rose," Sorey said. "I bet she's wondering where we are..."

But when he opened it, he found a different message awaiting them.

_Can't make it today. Something came up._

Mikleo, reading the text over Sorey's shoulder, gave a thoughtful hum, but said nothing. Sorey tapped out a quick response before tucking his phone back into his pocket:

_ok, i'll let alisha know. see you around!_

The rest of the walk to Alisha's manor was quiet, both boys exhausted and with a lot of food for thought. Alisha answering their knock at the front door was perhaps the most welcoming thing they'd seen all day, and Sorey gave her the brightest smile he could manage. "Hey, Alisha!"

The young princess smiled in return. "Sorey! It's good to see you!" She opened her mouth to continue, but abruptly paused to look around expectantly. "Where's Rose?"

"She couldn't make it today," Sorey said, offering an apologetic grin on the absent merchant's behalf. "She said something came up."

"I see..." Alisha's expression fell for a moment, veiled in disappointment, before she shook her head. "I guess it can't be helped. She probably has her own preparations to tend to."

Alisha let them inside (waiting for Sorey's cue to know when Mikleo was inside) and they made their way to a table where Alisha had prepared some tea. It did a lot to calm their nerves, and Sorey could see Mikleo relaxing a little after seeming oddly tense. Despite living in a relatively fancy manor, and especially being Ladylake's princess, Alisha had always been notably humble and welcoming. She was among the first few people that Sorey had met after venturing into Ladylake with Mikleo months ago, and she had provided him with a lot of help finding a job and getting settled in the city. Despite Mikleo's initial protests (born primarily out of worry for Sorey), they'd all grown to be fast friends, despite the fact that Sorey was the only one that could see Mikleo.

Sorey set down his cup and produced the Celestial Record, holding it out to Alisha. "Here you go."

Alisha gently took the book from Sorey's hands, her eyes widening as she inspected the cover. "This is an incredibly old copy, Sorey!"

He blinked in surprise. "It is?" Sorey asked. He knew it was a rather old book, but it had been kept so well, its apparent age had not been obvious to him. He'd seen plenty of old books in the library, some on the verge of falling apart due to misuse, but he'd never put the Celestial Record on any of those levels.  
  
"Yes, it is!" Alisha replied. "I haven't seen this edition printed anywhere! Where did you get it?"  
  
Sorey shrugged. "I've had it ever since I was a little kid. Gramps made sure I took really good care of it."

With an eager and curious smile, Alisha wasted no time in carefully opening the cover of the book and flipping through the pages. After the first few, however, she began to slow down, her smile fading into a frown, eyebrows furrowing as she stared closely at the book as though the book were some foreign object to her. Sorey exchanged glances with Mikleo - who looked just as confused as he was - before he looked back to the princess and tilted his head in concern. "Is something wrong, Alisha?"

Alisha glanced up, a vague look of disappointment on her face. "Sorey...you didn't write your own entries in this, did you?"  
  
Sorey's thoughts screeched to a halt, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Mikleo's head jerk up in surprise along with him. "Huh?"  
  
"I've read the Celestial Record so much, I've almost memorized several of the passages. But some of the maps in your copy are different." She looked back down at the Celestial Record, flipping through it slowly once again. "And there are many pages with notes written in them."  
  
"But those markings were always there," Mikleo said, staring in astonishment. "If they were written instead of printed, then one of the previous owners had to have written in it."  
  
"It wasn't me or Mikleo," Sorey explained. "Our copy's always been like that. Do those notes not exist in more modern editions?"

The princess shook her head, baffled. "No, not at all. There even seems to be a few extra pages in your copy, Sorey."

"Extra pages?" Mikleo echoed, eyes wide as saucers.

Sorey was just as stunned. He'd always assumed that the extra entries written in the back of the Celestial Record were well-known to most who read the Celestial Record. No wonder he'd gotten so many strange looks when he referenced a few minutia to some library patrons. All of those notes, the corrected maps, the new entries...he'd assumed they'd just been well-preserved from the original version. "Then all those entries about the Shepherd's journey and discoveries..."

Both Mikleo and Sorey finished the statement at the same time. "...must've been written by the previous Shepherd!"

"A copy of the Celestial Record owned by a previous Shepherd..." Alisha was nearly breathless in wonder. "I never imagined I'd ever hold such an incredible relic with my own hands!"

"Where do you think Gramps got it from?" Sorey asked, turning to Mikleo. "Didn't he say something about holding onto it for a really long time?"

Mikleo folded his arms, staring at his tea in thought. "He said that it had been given to him by powerful seraph that once traveled the world," he said, "But he didn't explain much more than that."

"A seraph who traveled the world... Do you think maybe they knew the Shepherd?"

"The one that wrote those entries, you mean? It's possible."

"Do you think maybe he was a friend of Gramps?"

"He must have been. Why else would he entrust him with the Celestial Record?"

"It's also possible that he was-"

Alisha tilted her head. "Um...Sorey?"

Sorey winced apologetically. It was easy to forget that not everyone could see Mikleo. Luckily, Alisha was more understanding of when sudden one-sided conversations like this sprung up. Rose was, too, to an extent; her fear of ghosts tended to put her on edge more than anything. "Sorry, Alisha..."

"It's alright." Gently, Alisha placed the Celestial Record back in Sorey's hands. "Here, I feel like this should stay with you."

"Are you sure...?" Sorey asked, taking the book back. "You don't need to borrow it for the festival preparations?"

"I'm sure," Alisha replied, "But thank you for lending it to me all the same. It means a lot to me."

Sorey beamed happily. "Don't mention it. I'm just happy I could help."

Before any of them could respond or continue, the sudden sound of a tea cup crashing to the table and spilling turned their heads. Mikleo was bracing himself on the arm of the couch with one hand, the other clutching his chest. His eyes were wide, his breathing forced. Alisha cried something out, but Sorey didn't hear it nor did he pay it any attention, his own hands rushing to Mikleo's shoulders to steady him. "Mikleo!"

The young water seraph didn't respond at first, his shoulders trembling. "I...I don't know. I don't feel so good."

"What's going on, Sorey?!" Alisha cried. "What's wrong with Mikleo?!"

"I think he's sick," Sorey replied, shaking his head and standing. He nudged the table out of the way with his knee while he circled around to kneel in front of Mikleo. "I'm not sure why. This has never happened before!"

Alisha called for one of her servants before helping to clear the area around Mikleo, moving the table a little further and handing Sorey one of the linen napkins in place of a washcloth. "I didn't know seraphim _could_ get sick..."

"Me either," Mikleo groaned, leaning onto Sorey. "It's never been this bad..."

"This bad?" Sorey echoed, his heart sinking in dread.

The young seraph shook his head. "I'll be fine, I'm... I probably just need some rest."

Sorey frowned, giving Alisha an apologetic look. "We should probably head home. Mikleo's not feeling well."

Alisha took a hesitant step forward. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I'll be fine," Mikleo said, still wincing, "But I don't think we should stick around here for much longer."

Nodding, Sorey turned back to Alisha, meeting her worried gaze with one of his own. "Any chance you could give us a ride, Alisha?"

 

* * *

 

"A few _days?!"_ Rose protested.

Talfryn nodded, though he didn't look any happier than Rose. "If you go on patrols in that condition, it'll only take longer to heal up."

"He's right," Felice chimed in. "We know you're worried about what happened out there, but there's a risk that it'll get worse if you don't get enough rest. Of course, it's still your decision..."

Rose let out a groan, slouching over in a huff...and almost immediately regretting it when the stinging pain reminded her of why she was being lectured in the first place. This was no time to be lying around doing practically nothing, but they were right. Rose was the best fighter out of all of them, and the fastest as well, but being the boss also meant she was the most important to keep safe. Going on patrols and potentially fighting other crazy people wasn't the greatest idea with her side all bandaged up. Felice had mentioned that it wasn't as bad as it could be, but it was still deep enough to warrant some extra care. "Fine, you've made your point," she grumbled. "But if anything big happens, I'm _not_ staying in bed. Got it?"

Talfryn shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "Can't argue there, Boss."

Eguille nodded in approval before folding his arms. "I'll send out a few extra patrols and have Rosh keep an extra close ear on the police scanners. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," Rose replied. "If there are any more crazies running around, we need to know before anyone else gets hurt."

Rose had neglected to tell them about the freak accident that had defended her after she'd suffered the slash to her ribs, but it made little difference either way. If it happened again, after all, she'd hear about it before long. It was too strange for her to really put any thought into and make sense of. Sure, those freaks had been pretty banged up, and she didn't want any innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, but it had also saved her life. The patrols were already going to be careful, anyway. If whatever the hell happened back there happened again, she'd probably get a few more puzzle pieces to this riddle. For now, she'd have to wait and observe.

Her course decided, Rose straightened - carefully - and hopped off the table, placing her hands on her hips. "Alright, that takes care of that. How's the festival prep going?"

The twins seemed happy for the change in subject, if a bit taken aback at first. Rose was never one to linger on things for too long, and she knew it could take them by surprise, even with how used to it they were by now. Sure enough, within moments everyone had moved on along with her. "Everything's ready to go for setup tomorrow," Rosh said. "All we've got left is sorting out who's going to stay here and watch over the store."

"The festival's a week long, right?" Felice piped up. "We can have people rotate out."

Rose grinned. "Good thinking. If we're going to have extra patrols running around, we'll need to make sure we don't wear anyone out."

The decision-making took all of a few minutes, with the twins volunteering to run the booth on day one. Once everything was sorted, Rose retired to her room for the evening, sitting down on her bed and hissing in pain as the wound on her side stung once more. The twins had done a _great_ job patching her up, all things considered, but they were just as clueless as she was when it came to how to deal with the pain. It had abated little since she got home, and her energy was all but spent. Luckily, she didn't have to worry about letting Sorey and Mikleo about her absence; she didn't remember sending them a text, but one glance at her phone told her that apparently she had. One less thing to worry about.

She hadn't bothered turning the lights on when she got to her room; there was enough sunlight filtering in through the window. As much as she'd like to get some rest, she had one more thing to take care of. She glanced over at her laptop to see an IM window flashing. Noticing the screen name, she rolled her eyes. "Them _again_ ," she grumbled, turning the screen to face her and glowering at the screen like it was the cause of her day's problems. She had planned on contacting them anyway, sure, but it never stopped things from being irritating.

 

> _**Aegis has logged in.** _
> 
> **Aegis** : hey rose ;) you holding up alright?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : where the hell have u been???
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : not that i mind having some peace and quiet 4 once
> 
> **Aegis** : whoa, geez. i leave for two days and this is how you greet me when i come back? harsh.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : look ive had a REALLY bad day okay
> 
> **Aegis** : yeah, i can tell
> 
> **Aegis** : no need to be so snippy
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : ill snip at u as much as i want
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : im only letting u off easy because sometimes u ACTUALLY tell me something useful!
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : which is y im actually a LITTLE happy to see u rn
> 
> **Aegis** : whooaaaa, rose is actually happy to see me for a change!
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : shut uuuup
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : im not here to flatter u, im here to ask you some stuff
> 
> **Aegis** : alright, ask away. Aegis is here to help you out ;)
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : u got any leads on crazy people?
> 
> **Aegis** : crazy people huh?
> 
> **Aegis** : you're gonna have to give me a little more to go off of than that
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : i was waiting to meet some friends of mine at the mall when a bunch of freaky guys burst thru a window and started attacking me
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : well i mean they were beating up this other guy but then they came after me
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : i was hoping to just keep them distracted until help showed up but then things got REALLY freaky
> 
> **Aegis** : freaky how?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : one of them got down on all fours and charged at me
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : and now ive got CLAW MARKS on me and im stuck at home all bandaged up and it still won't stop hurting
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : idk what their deal was but they were just acting totally crazy
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : like they werent even human
> 
> **Aegis** : you might be more right than you think.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : what?
> 
> **Aegis** : rose, listen.
> 
> **Aegis** : you're VERY lucky you made it out of that mess alive. those people that attacked you definitely weren't normal people
> 
> **Aegis** : they're the same as lunarre
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : wtf is that supposed to mean?
> 
> **Aegis** : lets just say that some fairy tales are more than just fairy tales.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : i already know about the seraphim ok? and those people WERENT seraphim
> 
> **Aegis** : sounds like someone needs to brush up on her folklore ;) i wasn't talking about seraphim
> 
> **Aegis** : anyway, i'd be careful if i were you
> 
> **Aegis** : there might be more creeps like that lurking around the city
> 
> **Aegis** : and something tells me things are gonna get worse
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : fiiine i'll watch my back
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : happy?
> 
> **Aegis** : yyyup. :)
> 
> **Aegis** : i know you can take care of yourself, rose. you're the leader of the scattered bones, after all.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : and ur the most annoying source of intel ive ever had to deal with
> 
> **Aegis** : hey, at least i'm on your side, right?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : thats probably the only thing u have going for urself right now
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : so u better watch it, aegis
> 
> **Aegis** : yeah, yeah, i know.
> 
> **Aegis** : anyway i gotta head off. you've had a pretty long day and you're gonna need the rest for what's to come.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : before u go, i wanna ask u one more thing
> 
> **Aegis** : sure. can't guarantee any answers, though. :p
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : how long have u been in the city?
> 
> **Aegis** : let's just say i've been hanging around for a long, long time
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : UUUUGGGHHHHH when r u ever gonna stop being so vague?????
> 
> **Aegis** : sorry, rose. i'd hate to spoil the surprise.
> 
> **Aegis** : but don't worry, i'll fill you in when the time is right. ;) i promise.
> 
> **Aegis** : later!
> 
> _**Aegis has logged out.** _

 

"What a pain in the ass," Rose grumbled. Her window creaked as a breeze blew past, almost as though punctuating her words. Even so, it did little to help her mood. With a grunt, Rose forced herself to stand up and she grasped the handle of the window, slamming it shut. She closed the curtains, shut her laptop and flopped onto her bed, letting out an angry huff. It wasn't even evening and she was exhausted. Naps could fix anything, sure, but today was emotionally beyond saving. Without bothering to even pull the blankets over her, Rose lay still on her bed. Just get some sleep, she told herself, and she'd be right as rain, like she always was.

An hour later, though, Rose was _still_ awake, the dull pain in her side where the man attacked her still throbbing. She grimaced, rolling over onto her side and curling up in protest. How was she supposed to sleep if it hurt this badly? Even with the constant stinging in her side keeping her awake, though, her energy was quickly running out. If she didn't fall asleep the natural way, eventually her exhaustion was going to do the job for her. For now, though, she couldn't even manage to shut her eyes, not even as her room began to get blurrier and blurrier.

Maybe it was a trick of the light, or lack thereof. Maybe it was her exhaustion and stress making her see things. But after another failed attempt to shut her eyes and sleep failed, something in her room shifted, and she could just barely make out a shadowy figure sitting next to her. At first, she thought it was Eguile, but something wasn't right. She may have been tired, but she knew she didn't hear anyone walk in. She squinted just a little, still unable to focus, but this time able to make out a few more details about the silhouette next to her: he was tall, with shaggy hair covering his face, making it impossible to see any features in the low light. She was sure she'd never seen him before. He wasn't anyone who worked at the store, nor was he any of the store's frequent customers. More importantly, he hadn't been sitting there a few seconds ago. All signs pointed to either a hallucination, or some sort of ghost. And yet...

At the edges of her vision, she caught something moving. There was some kind of winged pendant, dangling from a string that the man had wrapped around one of his fingers. It swayed gently back and forth, stirring and gathering the air around it with each swing. Having already expended enough of her remaining energy wondering what the hell was going on, let alone trying to decide whether or not any of this was real or just some kind of fever dream, Rose squeezed her eyes shut and shifted in some vain effort to get more comfortable.  
  
Moments passed, bringing with them silence broken only by the subtle shifting of the air. A hand settled softly onto her shoulder, warmth blossoming outward from it and melting away a stiffness she'd forgotten she was feeling. Her soreness began to fade, and the searing pain quickly became a distant memory. Her breathing went from shallow to full again, sweet air filling her lungs. Her exhaustion, however, remained. Though she could have sworn she heard a quiet, deep voice speaking to her, she couldn't make out any coherent words. Before long, her mind finally drifted into to sleep's embrace.

 

* * *

 

Seraphim didn't need food or sleep like humans did, but it helped all the same. Sorey managed a decent tray of butter cookies despite his mediocre ability to cook, all of which Mikleo eagerly nibbled away at before being gently carried off to bed. Sorey was too overcome with worry to sleep, so he remained awake even after tucking Mikleo into bed, holding the seraph's hand in his own. He stared worriedly and quietly at Mikleo's sleeping form, rubbing his thumb over his skin absently.

Alisha had summoned them a private coach right away and rode with them until they made it home, with her mentor Maltran minding the festival preparations in her absence. While Mikleo's condition had improved vastly once they finally made it home, he was still far from fine. Sorey was the more knowledgeable of the two humans about seraphim, and Mikleo knew even more than him, but neither of the boys could discern just what was wrong. Sorey had called off work ahead of time for tomorrow, and if need be he was prepared to miss the first day of the festival in case things got worse.

Hours passed like centuries, and Sorey's eyelids were beginning to droop. Even with Mikleo slowly seeming better, sitting and waiting was really the only thing he knew that he could do, as harsh as it was. Worst case scenario, they'd have to leave Ladylake and head back to Elysia, and get help from the seraphim that Sorey had grown up with. There was no telling where that wind seraph was, or whether or not he'd even survived against the fox-man. With any luck, though, Mikleo would get better and then they wouldn't need any help.

Until then, though, Sorey would need to get some rest as well. With Mikleo's hand still grasped gently in his own, Sorey carefully edged his way under the blankets and into the bed. He could see Mikleo breathing a little calmer now; maybe this bit of rest was helping after all. It was a small relief, but a relief nonetheless. Allowing himself that, Sorey finally allowed his eyes to close.

Nearby, a little window pop up on Mikleo's computer screen.

 

> _**Aegis has logged in.** _
> 
> **Aegis** : Great job out there today, water boy.
> 
> **Aegis** : I TOLD you to be careful. And now look what happened.
> 
> **Aegis** : Don't count on me to bail you out every time. Your luck is about to run out.
> 
> **Aegis** : And when it does, you're not going have anywhere left to run.
> 
> **Aegis** : Rest while you can. Things are only going to get worse, and you're going to need every ounce of strength you can get.
> 
> **Aegis** : At least you've got PART of this mess figured out on your own. Keep up the good work.
> 
> **Aegis** : Oh, and whatever you do? Stay close to Sorey. Like I said, he's got a big part in all of this...just like you.
> 
> **Aegis** : Remember, Mikleo: you asked for this.
> 
> _**Aegis has logged out.** _


	7. How To Greet Your Guardian

> _**Aegis has logged in.**_  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : Hello, Aegis!  
>    
>  **Aegis** : hello, alisha! ^o^  
>    
>  **Aegis** : how are the preparations for the sacred blade festival coming along?  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : They're going much more smoothly, now. I didn't expect to be in charge of so much this year, but we got everything to work out.  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : The museum is opening their exhibit tomorrow, featuring what are said to be artifacts from the Age of Chaos. Sadly, no one's been able to find the legendary Sacred Blade, so we had to order a replica. The Sparrowfeathers came through for us once again.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : We've still had other difficulties, though. We weren't able to reserve enough funding for the ceremony re-enactment this year.  
>    
>  **Aegis** : that's a shame. ;_; it's great to hear everything else is going well, though!  
>    
>  **Aegis** : wait, a ceremony re-enactment?  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : Yes. Whoever draws the Sacred Blade would become known as the Shepherd, and combine his powers with that of the seraphim to purify malevolence.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Originally, the ceremony was held in the Sanctuary of Ladylake. The Sacred Sword was placed in a pedestal, where it was said that the Lady of the Lake would judge the souls of all those attempted to draw it. Only those who were worthy would be able to wield the blade and become the Shepherd.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : The ceremony hasn't been held for centuries, but sometimes during the festival we hold a mock ceremony instead, like the one we held last year. Ian had the idea of re-opening the Sanctuary and holding the re-enactment there. However, I wouldn't dare to defile sacred ground for such a thing. In addition, the Sanctuary has been closed off for some time now.  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : I do appreciate her enthusiasm, though.
> 
> **Aegis** : it sounds so interesting! i wish i could see it sometime!
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Oh? You weren't here for last year's festival?
> 
> **Aegis** : unfortunately not ;-;  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : That's right... You haven't been in the city for that long, either.  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : Come to think of it, you've only been here about as long as Sorey has...  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : Are you a friend of his? Or a relative, perhaps?  
>    
>  **Aegis** : something like that!  
>    
>  **Aegis** : although i'm afraid i can't say more...  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : I see...  
>    
>  **Aegis** : i'm sorry ;A; i wish i could tell you, but it's very complicated...  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : No, I understand.  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : Although, I do wish I could meet you in person. It's a shame you're unable to leave home.  
>    
>  **Aegis** : i have a feeling it won't be too long before i can leave. although, sadly, that's not a good thing...  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : It isn't? But wouldn't finally being able to get out and about be something to look forward to?  
>    
>  **Aegis** : it's a long story. ;-;  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : It's alright if you can't explain.  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : You're my friend, Aegis. I don't know much about you, and as strange as I may find that you know so much about me, you've shown me nothing but kindness and respect.  
>    
>  **knightofladylake** : Thank you.  
>    
>  **Aegis** : of course! you're my friend too, alisha! i'm glad we're able to chat like this. ^o^
> 
> **Aegis** : by the way, you really should get some rest. it's getting late!
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I still have a lot to take care of, though...
> 
> **Aegis** : you've been working very hard. you deserve some sleep.
> 
> **knightofladylake** : I'll get some rest, don't worry.
> 
> **Aegis** : wonderful! i'm going to get some sleep as well.
> 
> **Aegis** : good night, alisha!
> 
> **knightofladylake** : Good night, Aegis!
> 
> _**knightofladylake has logged out.** _

 

Quietly, she pushed laptop away, her eyes closing in thought. Time was running out, and when it did, this charade would have to end.

Alisha would be safe for now. So far, Rose and Mikleo hadn't been quite so fortunate, but they were strong. They could take care of themselves; they would be fine. As for Sorey, it was only a matter of time before things got ugly. No amount of knowledge would grant anyone the power to stop that.

The candles flickered out and invited darkness once again, the chamber lit only by the moonlight filtering in through the windows. It was peaceful, but such peace was shallow and temporary; a calm before a mighty storm. Any seraph would be able to sense the thickening Malevolence outside and know better than to be at ease. Not that there were very many seraphim in Ladylake, though that was really where the good news ended. This whole scenario seemed too convenient. Too much of it made sense, too much of it was predictable. By this point, it was clear that none of it was a coincidence.

 _History_ does _have a terrible habit of repeating itself, doesn't it...?_

 

* * *

 

When Rose awoke, there was no one there, and her door was shut, and someone had taken the liberty of pulling the blankets back over her. However, her window had been opened again, and a gentle breeze was coming through as usual. Sitting up, she stretched, noting that her pain really was completely gone, and she smirked almost triumphantly. Weird dreams or no, naps really did solve everything.

Sure enough, when she went downstairs and had Rosh check on her injuries, there wasn't even a scar beneath the bandages. Not a single one of them knew how it had healed so fast. In the end, they chalked it up to Rose's uncanny ability to heal quickly and called it a day, but Rosh warned her to be careful just in case.

Needless to say, the visit to the festival grounds was met with some surprise by the twins. They'd been in the midst of setting up the booth with a few others when Rose arrived, and had temporarily put things to a halt to make sure she wasn't pushing herself too hard. Rose did, of course, let them know that she was absolutely fine, and moved on to business as usual, asking for progress reports and making a few suggestions and changes where necessary. After all was said and done, though, the twins weren't entirely convinced that Rose was ready to be out and about. After seeing that Rose wasn't in any major pain, though, they let it slide with little more than friendly suggestions that she take it easy just in case.

With the booth in good working order, Rose opted to head back to the store to help sort out a few of the last-minute orders they'd received. She'd be back to check on things in the evening when Sorey and Mikleo passed through the area to visit the museum. Rather than opting to take the normal route home, though, she decided to take a few shortcuts on the way to make things quicker.

Rose was about half-way through an alley before she realized that she wasn't alone. Her footsteps echoed off the walls, but among them she could hear a second set following her. If whoever was following her was some kind of thug or mugger, they were about to make the biggest mistake of their lives. She stilled her hand as it twitched towards one of the daggers she kept concealed in her vest. First things first: she needed to be sure that this wasn't a coincidence. There was no need to lash out at an innocent civilian if they happened to be following her for a less-than-malicious reason, after all. She'd had Sorey follow her into an alley out of concern before.

Pausing briefly, Rose pulled her phone out of her pocket, absently checking her text messages. The footsteps stopped a short distance away. A few seconds later, she slipped her phone into her pocket again, starting forward. The footsteps joined her. Still no one calling out to her. Her gut instincts had been right: Rose was _definitely_ being followed.

She slowed her speed intentionally, sinking into a more casual gait. The footsteps slowed with her, rather than keeping their pace to catch up. Good. If she could just lure her stalker close enough, she could take him out without warning. There was a wooden plank sitting at the end of the alley. It was hardly preferable to her trusty set of daggers, but she wanted to knock this stalker out, not kill them. Speeding up again, she maintained as casual a stride as she could, noting that her follower was speeding up to keep up with her. A soft wind blew through the alley at her back, bringing some calm to Rose's nerves via familiarity.

Once at the end of the alley Rose halted. In one swift motion, she grabbed the plank, turned around, swung-

"Wait-"

-and smacked the stranger following her on the side of the head.

The black-clad form of a tall man crumbled to the ground in an heap, letting out one last groan of pain. Rose edged towards the unconscious man, glaring and holding the plank up in case he stirred again or was otherwise just playing possum. Who did this creep think he was, following her around like that?

Only when she took a better look at him did she feel a strange sense of recognition, and she leaned in a little to get a better look. Now that he was in the light, she didn't immediately realize just who this was, but the details were unmistakable. Shaggy hair, a winged pendulum wrapped around one hand...no, _both_ hands... This was the man she'd seen in her room just last night.

Rose nearly dropped the plank to the ground. She'd been sure that she was just seeing things then, that it was just some dream. It was almost hard to believe, but there was no denying the reality of it with him right in front of her, awake or not. Even without all of that, something about him seemed oddly familiar, like she'd seen him somewhere else before, too. There were too many questions swarming her mind for her to think straight. Who was he? More importantly, what was he doing following her?

Well, whatever happened, she wasn't going to get her answers out here. Rose wasn't about to report to the authorities about this, either; something about it just didn't feel right. Just to be on the safe side, this was going to be Scattered Bones business. She pulled out her phone to try and contact the others, only to find that her battery had died on her way out. She must have forgotten to charge it last night. _Well, that's fine. I can handle this myself for now._

Plan B - hauling the stranger home herself, rather than with the help of others - wasn't ideal, but it worked. There was no pain in her side, so it ended up not being nearly as much trouble as it would have been. The man was much lighter than he looked, but still bulky enough to be awkward carrying around, and she was drawing more than a few stares trying to drag him back to her apartment. Trying to brush it off as bringing home a drunk friend only seemed to further the confusion, but most civilians seemed perfectly content to stay out of the way. By several yards, in some cases. There were even a few pointing children that were hurried away by their parents.

Taking the back door inside, Rose hauled the strange man up the stairs into the living room, unceremoniously dumping him onto the couch. He was still out cold... Good. That gave her some time to figure out what to do with this man. Plugging in her phone, Rose immediately grabbed a rope from a nearby closet and set to work tying up the man's arms and legs; tight enough to where he couldn't move but loose enough to where he wasn't hurt. While some part of her doubted that this man mean her any harm, the fact remained that she'd better stay on the safe side if she was going to question him.

The man grunted in pain, sneering and showing off a few abnormally sharp, pointy teeth. Rose pulled back abruptly. That...was new. People didn't have teeth like that. Normal people didn't, anyway.

A few seconds later, he stopped stirring. Slowly, carefully, Rose edged towards him, making sure not to wake him. Reaching out with one hand, she shoved a few fingers against his lips and pulled back. Two rows of shark-like, pointed teeth greeted her. What the hell was with this guy? Some kind of rare mutation? It certainly seemed like something she'd see on one of those weird medical TV shows-

"Boss?"

That voice was perhaps the most welcome thing she'd heard all day. Rose turned, looking up to see Rosh standing in the doorway, holding a small stack of receipts. She let out a relieved sigh. "There you are. Get over here and lend me a hand, will you?"

Rosh quirked an eyebrow, craning his neck a bit to glance at the couch before looking back at Rose. "With what?"

She could hardly believe his response. "What do you mean, 'with what'?" she responded. "Help me finish tying this creep up so we can question him when he comes to!"

The next thing that should have happened would be Rosh asking her what the hell happened. Why she'd brought a shaggy-haired, shark-toothed weirdo back into the apartment. But instead, a puzzled look crossed his face. "Maybe you need a little more rest..."

It was all she could do to keep from rolling her eyes. "I told you this morning, I'm fine!"

"Are you sure?"

Rose was halfway to letting out a frustrated groan before it dawned on her that something about this wasn't right. At any other time, Rosh would be over here in an instant. The strange man was sprawled out in plain sight, arms tied, and yet Rosh acted like no one was there. What the hell was going on? "Yeah, totally." She folded her arms. "Look, nevermind. Forget it."

After giving her another curious look, Rosh shrugged. "Alright. Don't push yourself too hard." With that, he headed back down the hallway to the shop.

Once Rose heard Rosh close the door behind him, she turned back to the unconscious man on the couch, noting that he'd hardly stirred. What was the deal? Even though she'd left the lights off, he wasn't exactly hard to see. And Rosh wasn't the type to joke around like that at all, especially not with some total stranger involved. Roes gave the man one more look over, trying to find something else she missed. Green-tipped silver hair, black jacket with green slits...no, none of this matched the description of any known locals, be they criminal or civilian. Maybe one of the regular customers they'd dealt with? No, they'd remember someone with a funny dye job and sharp teeth. What was she missing? Why would Rosh act like there was no one there? What was that saying that Sorey had? Something about the improbable being possible if nothing else added up? But then that would mean-

The pieces finally came into place, and it dawned on her. The people giving her funny looks on the street even with her explanation, Rosh acting unconcerned even with a total stranger in plain sight... Was this man a seraph? But she hadn't been able to see Mikleo even since meeting him. If this man really was one, why was she seeing him, and why now? What changed?

First things first. Rose raced over to her room to fetch her laptop. She'd have to call in some help from the only seraph experts she knew...

 

* * *

 

He was lost in a void of water, dark and endless and cold. No matter how he thrashed, no matter how much he reached out and silently screamed for help, none came. Darkness closed in rapidly on him. He thrashed wildly, attempting to swim to the surface, but there was no surface in sight. To make things worse, it felt like something was trying to drag him down, further and further into the abyss...and then it stopped.  
  
He couldn't quite see it, but rather he _felt_ it. A warm stream of water surging through the cold, wrapping around him and surrounding him, like a shield or a blanket. Sorey felt his panic ebbing away and he finally relaxed, a warm feeling settling in his chest and spreading out to the rest of his body from head to toe. Only then did he realize just how tired he felt, and yet ironically it was also the moment that he awoke.  
  
Sorey's eyes cracked open tiredly. The full moon shone through the window, bathing the bedroom in its light. For a moment, he could have sworn he saw a silhouette of someone standing on top of the building opposite of them, quietly watching, but he was so tired he was unable to tell if it was part of a dream or not. Unable to resist the call of slumber for too much longer, his eyes slid shut again and he curled up a little beneath the blankets.

Time passed, but the dreams did not return. All that remained was a feeling of foreboding threatening to creep in, held at bay only by some force he couldn't identify, something he _felt_ but couldn't quite see or hear...

_"Sorey..."_

A voice roused him from his slumber hours later, but did little to convince him to fully awaken. Perhaps he was still dreaming...

_"Sorey, wake up..."_

Stubbornly, Sorey turned over in bed, careful not to tug all the blankets over to himself. He needed to leave some for Mikleo, after all-

"Sorey!"

He woke with a start, eyes snapping open and twitching a little. Yawning, he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, glancing over at the clock. Ten fifty-two? He'd certainly slept in this morning. It was a good thing they had time off for the festival. Sorey looked over to see Mikleo sitting next to the window, hands folded in his lap. The seraph was giving him a mildly concerned look. "About time; I've been trying to wake you up for fifteen minutes now. You were mumbling in your sleep again."

"Sorry," Sorey replied, straightening a bit and stretching before climbing out of bed. He'd had this problem for some time, particularly since he'd moved to Ladylake from Elysia and begun having strange dreams. Mikleo seemed more worried than annoyed, but for the life of them they couldn't seem to figure out just what had caused it all. Still, aside from some occasional nightmares, it seemed fairly harmless, and Mikleo had done more worrying about it than Sorey had. "What about you? Did you sleep well?"

Mikleo shrugged, looking back out the window. "Yeah, actually. I'm still not sure just what happened yesterday, but I'm feeling a lot better now."

With how he was acting, it was a little hard to tell just how much better his companion was doing. He might not have seemed sick anymore, but Sorey knew him long enough to be able to tell when something was troubling him. There was no reassuring smile, no plain statement that he was fine. Something was definitely up. Still, it wouldn't be right to pressure him about it. If Mikleo was really worried about something, he'd bring it up. "I'm glad," he said. "You really scared me yesterday."

"I still can't figure out why it happened so suddenly," Mikleo admitted. "It takes a whole lot of Malevolence to get to me that fast."

"You think it was Malevolence...?"

"There's nothing else it _could_ be. What I'm wondering is what could have happened to bring about so much of it. Alisha's household is usually a pretty clear spot. If things there are getting bad, then I really have to wonder just how safe the city's going to be for _any_ seraph in the long run."

"Gramps did warn us that there would be a lot of Malevolence in the city," Sorey commented, frowning. Indeed, Zenrus had seemed quite worried about their decision to move to the city. Mikleo had insisted on going along to keep an eye on Sorey, but such a place would just as easily be a danger to seraphim as well. They would need to be careful. Still, it had seemed fine for the first few months, but now...

Mikleo folded his arms. "But it wasn't nearly this bad at first. Something must've changed recently if things are only getting bad now. If it keeps up, I don't know how much longer it'll be safe for me to be here."

Sorey felt an ache in his chest. Mikleo had always been by his side, ever since he was a little kid. They'd always looked out for one another (though Mikleo tended to bail Sorey out of trouble more than the other way around). Imagining life without him was borderline impossible. It pained Sorey to see Mikleo was suffering so much just for his sake. "Isn't there anything that can help?" Sorey asked. "I don't know if we can do anything about the Malevolence, but if there's something else that can make this easier on you..."

There was a moment of quiet while Mikleo closed his eyes, thinking. It was several long seconds before he replied. "I'd rather not find a vessel if I can help it," he said. "That would only be a temporary solution, with the way things are now."

"The Shepherd used to purify Malevolence all the time, right?" Sorey said. "Maybe if we can find a way to purify Malevolence like he did, we'd find a way to make the city safe for you."

As sensible as the suggestion had seemed to Sorey, Mikleo looked unconvinced. "Right, but the Shepherd made a special pact and went through various difficult trials in order to gain that power. That sort of thing is way out of our league."

"We might still be able to find something at the museum exhibit, though," Sorey pointed out. "That's opening up today, right?"

"It's worth a try, if anything." Mikleo stood up, brushing off his cape and pants. "Before we head out, though, _you_ need to eat breakfast."

"Breakfast? But it's almost eleven!"

"And the exhibit doesn't open until noon. We've got time."

As it turned out, all they had for breakfast was cereal. It worked just fine for both of them, considering their only other option was making toast, something that Mikleo still couldn't quite get the hang of for some reason ("It's not my fault it burns every time!"). Sorey had barely gotten half-way through his bowl when a series of pings rang out from his laptop and Mikleo's. Exchanging glances with Mikleo, Sorey briefly abandoned his breakfast and opened his laptop, only to be met with a flurry of messages.

 

> _**mabocurrybuns has logged in.** _
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : SOREY
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : MIKLEO
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : ARE EITHER OF YOU THERE?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : SOREYYYY MIKLEOOOO
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : HEY
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : ANSWER UR DAMN IMS OMG
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : WHERE TEH HELL R U
> 
> **ruinsftw** : we're here, sorry!
> 
> **ruinsftw** : what's wrong, rose???
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : FINALLY there u r
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : i need u to come over like right now
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : theres a seraph in my house
> 
> **twin-flow** : A seraph?!
> 
> **ruinsftw** : wait, i thought you couldn't see seraphim?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : apparently i can NOW! or at least i can see THIS one
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : he was following me down an alley so i knocked him out n dragged him back home
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : ive got him tied up now dont worry
> 
> **ruinftw** : what???
> 
> **twin-flow** : You did WHAT?!
> 
> **ruinsftw** : why?
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : because he was creeping me out!
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : look, i knocked him out, now hes on my couch, and i am NOT dragging him back outside again.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : now GET OVER HERE!!! i dont know what 2 do wit him!!!!!!!
> 
> **ruinsftw** : okay, okay! we'll head right on over.
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : good
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : ill tell rosh to leave the door open for u
> 
> **mabocurrybuns** : c u when u get here
> 
> _**mabocurrybuns has logged out.** _

 

Sorey and Mikleo exchanged baffled glances. "I guess we're headed to Rose's place first, then?" Mikleo said.

"Yeah," Sorey replied. _Today sure did get strange in a hurry..._

 

* * *

 

After hastily finishing his breakfast, Sorey and Mikleo headed directly to the Sparrowfeathers Shop. Eguille greeted them with his usual friendly smile, though he looked a little baffled when they mentioned they mentioned Rose. Apparently she'd come home not long ago and had been acting strangely since then. Worried, Sorey and Mikleo wasted no time in climbing the stairs to the apartment above the shop, politely knocking on the door to Rose's living room when they arrived. It opened as he did. Worried, he gently pushed it open just in time to see Rose rushing in their direction.

"There you are!" She exclaimed. "I've been waiti..." Her words trailed off as her gaze shifted abruptly from Sorey to the seraph standing next to him. She took a shocked step back, her eyes widening. "...Mikleo?"

Sorey's jaw dropped. There was no mistaking it, Rose was looking right at the water seraph. "Rose?" Mikleo started. "You can see m-rrhg?!"

Mikleo's comment was cut short when Rose darted forward and pried Mikleo's mouth open. Ignoring his attempts to break free and his grunts of protest, she stared intently inside. "Huh. _Your_ teeth are all normal and stuff."

With a distorted and garbled noise of confusion, Mikleo finally pulled Rose's fingers out of his mouth and stumbled back. "What was _that_ for?!"

Rose ignored his comment and shushed him before hurrying to close the door. "Keep it down! I think he's still out."

"Who?" Sorey asked, although peering just behind Rose gave him enough of an answer. There, on the couch, was a tall man garbed in a black jacket and pants, tall boots, and leather gloves. His clothes were so strange and dated, he looked like someone out of a re-enactment play. Sorey could even see what appeared to be pendulums - much like the ones the strange wind seraph had used to save him, though differently shaped - clutched in his hands. It was hard to see his face, as it was covered mostly by shaggy silver hair, tipped in green. He was breathing, slowly and deeply, but otherwise didn't move. Rose had already tied his hands together behind him with some rope and forced him into an awkward sitting position, binding his ankles together as well. Regardless of whether or not this seraph meant well, Rose didn't seem keen on taking chances.

"Told you I had a seraph in here," Rose proclaimed. "Looks like Mikleo's not the only one in Ladylake, after all. Speaking of which..." she turned her gaze back to the water seraph. "Do all of you guys dress that way? I mean, no offense, but two capes? A shirt made out of belts? What, are you still living in the Age of Chaos or something?"

"What's wrong with the way I dress?" Mikleo protested.

"Hey, I never said it was _bad!_ I just said looks _weird!_ Like something you'd see in an Age of Chaos re-enactment or something."

"I don't think most seraphim really keep up with modern fashion trends," Sorey said, smiling a little sheepishly. "All the seraphim in Elysia wear stuff like this."

Rose gawked. "Seriously? Sheesh, I know they're invisible, but they really need to get with the times!"

At least she was taking this well. Sorey had hardly expected Rose to react this way to seeing Mikleo, let alone to see him at all. She looked about ready to bombard him with more questions when Mikleo turned his attention to the wind seraph on the couch. "Haven't we seen this guy somewhere before?" He asked.

Sorey nodded. "I think so..." He was sure he'd seen him before in the shop downstairs, but he'd dismissed it back then as just someone else who worked there, or just a strangely-dressed customer. After all, he'd been in a back corner, and neither he nor Mikleo could get a good view of him. Now it was clear that he wasn't any ordinary visitor, he was a seraph. But how long had he been here...? And even without that sighting, something about him seemed eerily familiar... "Where did you say you found him, Rose?"

"Well," she began, casting her gaze back at the unconscious seraph, "I think the first time I _actually_ saw him was last night, right before I went to sleep. At least, I'm _pretty_ sure I saw him. It was kinda dark at the time and I was still really tired, but I thought I saw someone sitting next to my bed. He was gone when I woke up, though. No trace of him or anything. Then I was coming back from checking on the booth at the festival grounds this morning and he was following me..."

Mikleo and Sorey exchanged glances. "So you attacked him..." Sorey asked.

"And?!" Rose protested. "I heard someone creeping behind me and I was pretty sure it wasn't anyone good, so I just turned around and took him out! Even if he _is_ a seraph, how am I supposed to know whether or not he wanted to hurt me?!"

"You could ask?" Mikleo offered flatly.

Sorey chuckled uneasily. What a mess... "Well, it's a bit late for that now. We'll have to wait until he wakes up."

Rose shoved her hands onto her hips. "Can't we just dump a bucket of water on him or something?"

"I don't think he'd be too happy about that..."

"I don't _care_ if he's happy! I just wanna know why he was following me like some kind of creep!"

Mikleo gently grabbed Sorey's shoulder, visibly wincing in pain. "Sorey..."

He didn't have time to ask Mikleo what was wrong. A loud scratching noise made itself known at the door, prompting wide-eyed stares from both Sorey and Rose. Seconds later, they were accompanied by loud and angry snarling. Rose took a hesitant step back. "Um... Do either of you want to tell me what that is?"

"Whatever it is, it's not good!" Mikleo cried as the scratching got louder and escalated into something banging relentlessly against the door. "Everyone, get back!"

They did so not a moment too soon. The door exploded into splinters and a snarling creature charged into the room. It could only be described as some kind of wolf, but there was no way any ordinary wolf would be this far inside city limits, nor would it have fangs that long or eyes that shade of red. Mikleo wasted no time in summoning his staff and sending a barrage of ice spikes to slam into it. The wolf, undeterred, turned its attention to the water seraph and let out a warning growl before it charged, knocking him over and pinning him to the ground.

Luckily, it took Rose all of a split second to get over the shock of whatever the hell had just begun, and she pulled out a dagger - what was Rose doing with a weapon like that?! - and drove its serrated edge into the wolf's shoulder. The beast shrieked in pain and turned its hungry gaze onto her. Sorey took the opportunity to ram his shoulder into the wolf, sending it tumbling off balance long enough for him to help Mikleo to his feet.

The wolf scrambled to its feet, claws scraping the floor as it charged towards Rose. It was met with a chair being swung at its face, the wood shattering into splinters and sending it stumbling back a few steps, its eyes shut tight as it snarled angrily. Rose took the opportunity to stab it again, only to abandon the attack and scamper out of the way as the wolf snapped at her. Its jaws missed her by inches, instead shredding off a section of her sleeve.

It was then that a powerful gust of wind blew through the room, enough to catch humans, seraphim, and monster alike off guard. Furniture toppled, glass fell to the floor and shattered, splinters from the destroyed door and chair blew about and scattered. At first, Sorey worried that some other monstrosity had come to make things worse, but he saw no additional enemies, nor any open windows or doors. It was just them. Only one thing had changed: the seraph on the couch was no longer lying on the couch. He was sitting straight up, undeterred by the wind.

"That's enough."

The seraph sliced the ropes off of his arms with what appeared to be a fancy pocket knife, dropping it the moment his limbs were free. In one swift motion, he flung the pendulums out of his hands, lashing them like whips to ensnare the hellion and slam it against the floor. It no time to react before a series of ethereal chains launched themselves out of the floor, impaling the wolf and denying it even one final scream. Another pulse of wind accompanied the chains bursting, and the wolf fell to the floor. A dark fog seemed to fade from the wolf, revealing what appeared to be a lifeless Marlind Hound beneath.

With the enemy own, the wind seemed to slow to a subtle breeze, hardly still but barely enough to move even the splinters or glass shards on the floor. The silence was almost deafening, everyone in the room staring at the canine that lay dead in the middle of the floor. Rose inched towards the dog, nudging it with her boot. There was no response. "Whatever that was," she said uneasily, "At least it's dead now."

Mikleo stood up straight again, dismissing his staff. "That thing..." he began. "That was a hellion, was it?"

The wind seraph let out a discontent huff. "Of course it was," he responded, picking up his pocket knife again to sever the ropes around his legs. "What else would you call that thing? You sensed that Malevolence, didn't you?"

"Well..." Mikleo started. "Yeah, I did. But I wasn't expecting one to show up _here_."

Sorey's eyebrows furrowed in worry. "Then things really are getting worse," he mumbled. Malevolence alone was bad enough, but if it was thick enough to start breeding hellions, then it wasn't safe in the city anymore.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hang on!" Rose said, her expression riddled with confusion. "Malevolence? Hellions? What the hell are you guys talking about?"

The explanation didn't come easily, especially with Rose so confused and still in shock from seeing seraphim for the first time, but luckily Sorey was good at simplifying the explanation. He told her as much as he could, about how human dwellings - especially cities - tended to harbor a lot of Malevolence. That Malevolence was typically a toxic thing for seraphim, with too much of it making them sick or worse. That Malevolence in high enough amounts could turn people or animals into monsters. "We never thought we'd actually run into any hellions _here_ , though," he explained. "We think something might be making it worse."

"But he was fine before, right?" Rose asked. "Why only now?"

"Probably because he's a water seraph," the wind seraph intoned.

Mikleo glanced over to the couch. "What does that have to do with anything?"

The air stirred in the room, kicking up a small breeze. "I've been told before that water is the most easily corruptible of the four elements," he said. "It's just a guess, of course, but it makes sense that a water seraph would be more sensitive to Malevolence than any other kind of seraph."

"And it's only going to get worse if all of this keeps up," Sorey added. "We need to find something to do about this before it gets worse."

The wind seraph scoffed, standing up. Even though they couldn't see his eyes, the frown alone was enough of a clue that he was glaring daggers at them all. "Good luck with that. No one's been able to do _anything_ about Malevolence for hundreds of years."

Sorey opened his mouth to speak, but he caught Mikleo casting the strange seraph a wary glare. Rose scowled, putting her hands on her hips. "Hey, sit back down! I've got some questions for you!"

"If you're going to put your fingers in my mouth again, I'll bite them off."

"I don't _care_ about your creepy teeth! I just want to know why you were following me!"

Letting out an irate sigh, the seraph did as he was told, sitting back down on the couch and folding his arms. "I'm what you might call a guardian seraph," he replied. "Keeping an eye on you is my job."

"Oh yeah?" Rose growled. "And who put you up to it?"

He barely even shook his head. Instead, the seraph opted to stare at the wall for a moment. "No one. It was my choice."

"So you _chose_ to follow me like a creep into that alley?" Rose replied, glaring. She hardly looked convinced.

The man snarled, showing off rows of sharp, pointed teeth. " _You're_ the one that picked the most dangerous route back here! Besides, I wasn't aware you could sense me yet."

"That's hardly even an excuse! I can take care of myself just _fine_ , thanks; I don't need some invisible weirdo following me around babysitting me!"

Sorey was about to interject that such a comment towards a self-proclaimed "guardian" seraph was probably rude at best and irreverent at worst, but the man seemed more annoyed than insulted. He scowled, but didn't offer a response other than looking away. Rose seemed too annoyed in kind to respond right away, so Sorey took the moment to interject before things got too heated. "What's your name?"

To his relief, the seraph's scowl seemed to lessen a little. Another short breeze blew through the room, toying with the strings on Sorey's hoodie for a moment, before he got an answer. "...Dezel."

 _Dezel..._ Something about the name stirred yet another sense of nostalgia. Maybe he'd read it somewhere before.... "How long've you been in Ladylake, Dezel?"

The wind seraph gave Sorey's question a few seconds of thought. "...as long as I can remember," he said at last. "But my memories only go back a few years. Everything before that's a blur."

Rose gave Dezel a suspicious look, but other than a thoughtful hum, she said nothing. Sorey had seen her like this sometimes in the past; she would never explain what got her into those moods and she'd bounce back out of them like nothing happened. In time, he'd learned not to question them, no matter how worrying they might be at times. Nothing ill ever seemed to come from it, so it probably wasn't worth worrying about anyway. Still...a seraph that could only remember the recent past. Had something stolen away his memories? Sorey couldn't help but feel concerned, but he knew better than to outright ask about it.

Luckily, he didn't have to; Mikleo filled the void of silence instead. "Has the Malevolence ever been this bad before?"

"Not even _close_." The words alone were enough to make Sorey's heart sink in dread. "Every now and then there's a small spike, but it usually stays pretty easy to tolerate."

Rose finally spoke up. "So whatever's going on here _definitely_ isn't normal, right?" She says. "There anything we can do about it? I dunno about you, but I like my city monster-free, thanks."

"According to the Celestial Record," Mikleo began, "the Shepherd could dispel Malevolence with the flames of purification. Thing is, there hasn't been a Shepherd for hundreds of years, so there's no telling when or even _if_ another one will appear."

It wasn't a very hopeful answer. Dezel was hard to read, but Rose was clearly discouraged by this...for a moment. "Then there has to be some _other_ way to clear the Malevolence, right? It seems kinda weird to have all the eggs in one basket."

"There's only so much we can learn from the Celestial Record alone," Sorey agreed. "The museum's opening a new exhibit today. We might be able to find some kind of hint there."

"Oh great," Rose wailed, her hopeful look being replaced with one of exasperation. "Just what I wanted to do this evening. Go sleuthing around a museum."

Dezel let out a half-amused snort, and Mikleo couldn't help but grin. Sorey, on the other hand, offered her an almost apologetic look. As supportive as she was of Sorey and Mikleo's interests, Rose never shied away from making clear that she didn't care much for it herself. Even though he didn't mind it, Sorey didn't want to drag her along in this pursuit. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, Rose. We can-"

The shopkeeper put her hands on her hips and glared Sorey down with determination. "Of course I'm coming! I don't get all this history stuff, but I'm not about to sit back and do nothing, either. If things really are that bad, then I want to help."

"In that case," Dezel said, "I'm coming, too. If there are any more hellions out there, you're going to need someone who _actually_ knows how to fight them."

Mikleo scowled at Dezel, but said nothing.

Sorey nodded. "Alright. The exhibit should be open by the time we get there. Let's go."

Rose grabbed Sorey by the hood. "Hold on there, Mister Historian," she said sternly, working her big-sister tone as strongly as ever. "That exhibit isn't going anywhere. First things first, we need to check out the shop to make sure everyone else is okay. Who knows how much damage that thing might've caused on its way up to us."

"She's right," Mikleo said. "Let's check on everyone else first. If anyone's hurt, we need to make sure they're properly tended to."

 

* * *

 

Two figures stood perched on top of the Sanctuary. A few dogs barked at them from below, some cats stared out their windows at them. Every now and then a human would notice them, only to dismiss it as their imaginations and continue on their way. It was to be expected; seraphim had been absent for so long that even those who could see them and could believe them were so accustomed to their absence. Either way, it made meeting up simple.

"About time you got back," came an unimpressed greeting from what appeared to be a young girl. There wasn't even eye contact. "I thought you'd be gone for at least a week. You almost missed the festival."  
  
"I _did_ tell you it wasn't going to take all that long, didn't I?" He grinned, folding his arms. He all but towered over the other seraph, but it never seemed to phase her. Then again, hardly anything ever did. "Ran into a few detours yesterday, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. You keeping things under control?"  
  
"Barely. Things are moving along faster than we thought."  
  
As he looked at the sky, he could see it. A thick miasma, invisible to human eyes, but all too clear to his own. He hadn't seen it above Ladylake in so long, at least not _this_ bad. For things to go down hill this fast now...  
  
"The only good thing about all this is that we're prepared for the worst," she continued, still watching the city. "If we need to move fast, then we can. All we need to do is skip a few steps in the plan. It'll be annoying, but it's better than letting all our hard work go to waste."  
  
"No one's hard work is going to waste," he insisted, his voice growing serious and dark. "We've come too far to let anything go downhill now."  
  
She finally looked at him. It was hard to really figure out what she was feeling underneath that stern expression. Not that it would make much difference, either way. "If anything big happens," she began, "You know what to do. Just make sure everyone stays safe this time."

The man smirked, tipping the brim of his medal-adorned hat. "Of course I will. Why else do you think I'm called Aegis?"


	8. Clues From The Past

Fortunately, the rest of the shop was totally fine. The worst damage that happened was several shelves of merchandise being knocked over as the hellion had made its way through the store to the back staircase. Explaining to the others what had happened in the living room was difficult (and Dezel was particularly quiet while they did so), but at least they didn't need to come up with an excuse for why there was so much destruction. Unfortunately, Eguille had been caught up in some of the ruckus and sustained some minor injuries, which Mikleo insisted on tending to. Though it took some convincing from Sorey, mostly due to the strangeness of having some invisible spirit get involved, before long Mikleo was putting his healing artes to work.

Every now and then, a slight breeze blew through the store. It took only a single look towards the back of the shop to remember that they had a wind seraph among them responsible for that, rather than an open door or window. Why he felt the need to circulate the air currents was beyond him, but Sorey wasn't sure that approaching such a prickly man was a very inviting idea. He didn't seem to be causing any trouble, though, so perhaps things were fine. After all, if he'd really been hiding out and watching over Rose for as long as he said, and nothing bad had happened to them in that time, he couldn't be that bad.

Sorey was in the midst of putting several boxes of cereal back on their shelf when he heard Rose calling to him from the end of the aisle. He turned around just in time to catch a small package of two frozen dumplings. "Use the microwave in the back!" Rose said. "You can thank me later!"

Smiling, Sorey nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Rose!"

"Don't mention it," Rose replied, offering him one of her usual grins. She jabbed a thumb at the back door leading to the apartments upstairs. "I've got something to take care of in the back for a few minutes. If you need anything, give Rosh a holler, got it?"

Without waiting for a reply, she and Eguille headed off. Curiously, Dezel began to follow, only to be firmly warded off by way of Rose stomping on his foot in passing and slamming the door in his face. The wind seraph scowled after her, but ceased his attempts to pursue her and resumed his post.

Coming around the corner, Mikleo plucked another box from the floor before Sorey could so much as reach for it. "Guess she could tell you haven't had lunch yet," Mikleo remarked. "Go eat up. I'll finish putting stuff away."

"You sure?" Sorey asked. "You're not worried about people staring at you?"

Mikleo shrugged, finally dismissing his staff. "The customers are steering clear of where all the messes are anyway. Besides, the Sparrowfeathers don't seem to mind it as much as I thought they would. I guess there are more people that still believe in us than I thought."

It was comforting to think about. When they initially arrived in Ladylake, Mikleo had seemed upset to hear how so many people had dismissed seraphim as bedtime stories or mere legends. Alisha and the Sparrowfeathers had been among the few that still truly believed, though Rose had taken a little time. In fact, it had been Rose that had ultimately spared Mikleo from getting frustrated with the whole ordeal. As reluctant as she'd been to believe things at first - apparently having stemmed from her fear of ghosts and the supernatural in general - she'd shown that she had a good heart, and that plus her concern for Sorey's well being won out. She was still a little jumpy around Mikleo but other than that she hardly seemed to mind him being around, so long as he didn't do anything too startling.

Rose emerged alone from the back room about five minutes later, all-too-eager to head to the museum. Sorey began to ask her why, only to be interrupted by a a gust of wind briefly directing his attention to Dezel, whom was giving him a scathing look. It was enough of an interruption for Rose to ignore his inquiry in favor of ordering the rest of the Sparrowfeathers to take over cleaning duty. They all opted to walk to the museum; it was a little farther than the mall usually was, but traffic was packed with festival preparations forcing traffic into detours, so walking would be faster than sitting in a car. Rose also muttered something about not wanting to be "boxed in with that creep", but refused to clarify when Mikleo asked her to repeat herself.

The area was packed once they arrived, with a decent amount of people to weave around to get to the door. When they arrived, however, things proved to be entirely different from what they thought. There were policemen standing around, their cars parked nearby, lights still flashing. Various civilians were chatting frantically either with authorities or one another. Sorey could sense Mikleo tensing a little next to him, and reached over to gently take the seraph's hand. He didn't need to be told to know that there was something affecting him here, but luckily it didn't seem quite as bad as before...

It was only when they approached further that Sorey heard a familiar voice.

"...no time. For now, I'd like you to focus on apprehension and recovery."

"Understood. What should we tell museum security, then?"

"No one is to enter the exhibit until we've sorted things out. I'd like to avoid causing a public upset if at all possible."

Sorey felt his heart sink in dread. "Alisha...?"

Turning to face him was indeed none other than Ladylake's princess. She was dressed somewhat more formally than usual, but she looked absolutely distraught. Not even Sorey's appearance did much to cheer her up, as it sometimes did when she was stressed. Something must've really gotten to her this time. "Sorey," she began. "Are... You're here for the exhibit, right?"

"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Mikleo muttered. "Alisha's never looked this upset before."

Steeling himself, Sorey nodded. "Yeah. Did something happen?"

Alisha's expression sank and she stared downward, unable to meet Sorey's gaze. "Yes. We received reports that someone broke in and stole most of the artifacts from the Age of Chaos exhibit..."

The shift was almost tangible. Sorey and Mikleo twitched in shock while Rose stiffened significantly. Dezel remained as quiet as ever, but a brief gust of wind blew past them in place of any other reaction he may have shown. "Stolen," Rose echoed, her voice almost uncharacteristically cold. "What about the culprit?"

"They caught him in the act," Alisha replied, shaking her head, "But he escaped before the authorities could apprehend him. We have some people looking into it now, but they've got almost no leads at all."

Rose whispered a few choice words under her breath that Sorey would never dare repeat in a thousand years.

"Fortunately," The princess continued, "They didn't manage to take everything. We're going to rush order some replicas so that the exhibit can at least be open to the public before the festival ends later this week. Still, it'll have to remain closed for now." She folded her hands. "I'm truly sorry, Sorey. I know you and Mikleo were looking forward to seeing everything..."

Sorey was overcome with sadness. Poor Alisha. She'd put her heart and soul into both the festival and the exhibit. It had taken months and months of hard work and preparation, only for this to happen and for it to all be undone in a single afternoon. It was difficult to find the right words to comfort her.

Luckily for him, Rose spoke up first. The merchant put her hands on her hips. "Actually, we're all here for a different reason now."

Even Sorey was surprised at Rose's hasty response. He'd known she wasn't one to dwell on the negative for too long and preferred to get straight to the point, but she'd seen so stern barely even moments ago. He exchanged glances with Mikleo, whom looked just as taken aback. Alisha eyes widened a little, apparently shocked out of her gloom. Before Alisha could really form any response, Rose continued onward. "Long story short, Sorey and Mikleo have run into a problem. A _big_ problem. They thought there might be something in the exhibit that could help them out."

Although there was no clarification and Rose's words were vague, the mention of Mikleo combined with Rose's firm tone seemed to be enough for Alisha to understand the importance of the request. "I see," Alisha replied. "I'm not sure how much help it will be with most of the artifacts stolen, but if it helps Sorey and Mikleo, then I have no objections. I'll tell security to let you through."

One of the policemen nearby gawked. "B-But, Princess Alisha, we can't let civilians into the exhibit while it's still..."

Alisha shook her head, shedding her distress and regaining her noble air. "Sorey and Rose are good friends of mine," she said, her voice firm and full of conviction. "Both of them have been a great help to me both in the past and in my efforts to prepare both the festival and this exhibit. I trust them to be careful and respectful while inside."

Mikleo grinned fondly. "Impressive," he remarked. "Alisha sure knows how to take charge of things when she needs to."

"She's a princess," Dezel remarked. "Of _course_ she would know how to run things."

The policeman nodded. "Very well. I'll inform security to make an exception."

Nodding in approval, Alisha turned back to Sorey. "I hope you find something helpful," she said. "And, while you're inside... You seem to know more than I do about these artifacts, so if you could find any sort of pattern in what was stolen..."

Sorey gave her a bright smile as her voice trailed off. "I'll let you know if we notice anything strange," he said. "Thank you, Alisha."

Alisha smiled. There was still a distraught sadness in her eyes, but a happiness still shone brightly through. "Thank you, Sorey. I hope you can enjoy the festival this year, as well."

There were still festival preparations to wrap up, so Alisha couldn't stay for too long. After saying their farewells, everyone headed inside. The security guard in front of the exhibit entrance was reluctant to let them in at first, but upon hearing another officer relay Alisha's official order over his radio, he allowed them inside.

True to what they'd heard, the room was a mess. Several displays were shattered, and many of the artifacts were missing. Fortunately, several of them remained, albeit with somewhat damaged cases. Most of the brass plaques were still in place as well. The lights overhead were damaged as well, leaving the room a little dimmer than it was meant to be.

Rose let out a disappointed huff. "Man, they really went to town in here..."

"Why would someone steal so many precious artifacts?" Mikleo asked. "Are they that valuable on the black market? Or maybe they just want their own private collection?"

"Something tells me that's not the case," Rose replied, walking forward to look around and examine the damage before anyone could question her response.

Dezel remained by the entrance, leaning against the wall and folding his arms. Rose eyed him briefly before returning to look at the damages around the room, while Sorey and Mikleo took a look at the few artifacts that remained. Aside from the smashed glass and splintered wood, the room looked as though great care had been taken to prepare it for the upcoming exhibit. Alisha's tireless work certainly showed, and Sorey couldn't help but feel dismayed the more he looked around.

He moved on to the wall nearest to the entrance. The artifacts were missing, the glass shattered, but three brass plaques remained.

 

_This bow was believed to have belonged to the Wise Shepherd, the youngest known Shepherd in the history of Glenwood and perhaps the most famous. While little is known of the Wise Shepherd's identity, records of his deeds are well-documented and he remains one of the most notable Shepherd to date. After ushering forth an era of peace, the Wise Shepherd - like many others before him - vanished without a trace. The purpose of this artifact is unknown, as the Wise Shepherd was said to wield a sacred blade in battle, much like many other Shepherds.  
_

_Perhaps the greatest mystery in all of Glenwood is that of the Sleeping Shepherd. According to legend, the Sleeping Shepherd was the most powerful Shepherd ever known, said to have formed pacts with the Five Lords themselves. Some of his legendary deeds include felling an entire horde of dragons in a single blow and quelling hellions by merely looking at them. Unlike other Shepherds, whose name and origins are merely obscured, information about the Sleeping Shepherd is intentionally left out of all texts, and he is often described as a terrifying monster surrounded by an aura of light. This woven mural is the only depiction of him that archaeologists have ever managed to find._

_Excavated in Pendrago, this mask and jacket are believed to have belonged to an ancient mercenary group. Though the name of this group is not known, records indicate that they were particularly active during the start of the Age of Chaos, and were responsible for countless assassinations, mishaps, and public disturbances. The group vanished shortly after the Just Shepherd appeared, and to this day historians are unable to discern why. It is a widely disputed theory that the mercenaries were challenged and defeated, leading to the Just Shepherd's rise to power. Due to the unnamed mercenaries' notoriety, several modern vigilante groups have modeled their uniforms after their garb, most notably the Scattered Bones of Ladylake._

 

Important artifacts, to be sure, although the clothing of a notorious mercenary didn't seem to fit with the others. Was there a connection that he was missing? The Celestial Record hardly spoke of any mercenary groups...

"Find anything?" Mikleo asked.

Sorey shook his head. "Not yet," he replied. "Nothing really seems to be connecting."

The water seraph nodded. "I can't find any similarities, either. Plus, some of the plaques are missing, and even parts of the displays themselves are gone."

"The displays, too..." Sorey echoed, glancing at the case that supposedly held the bow for further inspection. Sure enough, whatever prongs that would've held it up were torn off, with what he assumed was a broken piece of one of them sitting on the ground below. "Which artifacts are left? Is there anything helpful?"

"There's a replica of the sacred blade over in the corner," Mikleo replied. "The plaque's ripped off, but they left the blade itself alone for some reason. Other than that, there's not a whole lot. If there was anything in here that could've been helpful to us, it's gone now."

They really had arrived too late. Sorey's shoulders slumped, his gaze lowering to the floor. He had truly hoped that perhaps they'd find some hint here, but it seems their luck wasn't enough. Not even the Celestial Record would have much to help them. The few implications that it had were difficult to believe, that Lords of Calamity and Shepherds would appear whenever something like this happened. But there hadn't been anything like that for hundreds of years. That era was long over. And yet, there were too many similarities. Hellions appearing, Malevolence getting worse...

"Hey Sorey," Rose said, waving her hand. "Take a look at this tablet thingy."

Snapped from his thoughts, Sorey made his way over to where Rose stood. In front of her was an enormous stone tablet, engraved with a faded mural depicting a shepherd surrounded by five seraphim. The glass casing around it was heavily cracked; apparently the vandal hadn't been able to steal it before he'd been caught. The plaque had still been removed, however. The tablet itself was noticeably old and weathered, and below the image was some writing. The words were elegantly carved and difficult to make out, but still recognizable. "That's the ancient language, isn't it?" Mikleo asked.

"Yeah," Sorey muttered, squinting. "That's _definitely_ the ancient tongue. Looks like it's written in some kind of cipher, though."

Mikleo quirked an eyebrow. "Think you can decode it?"

"Of course," Sorey replied, nodding confidently. "One of the entries in the Celestial Record had a cipher in it. I memorized it ages ago and used to write messages in it for fun. This looks like it could be the same one."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?" She commented flatly, edging in with the group as her expression slid back from annoyance to intrigue. "Well, you wanna read it for the rest of the class? It's not like anyone else is listening."

"Some of the words are faded," he replied, "But yeah, I can read it." With both Rose and Mikleo hovering near his shoulder, Sorey quietly read aloud the contents of the tablet:

 

 _The flames grow cold and fade away,_  
_Earth barren, robbed of will_  
_Sparkling waters recede and dry,_  
_The wind is stale and still_

 _But look closer and you shall find_  
_The havoc plumes still wreak_  
_Relentless thorns and raging waves_  
_Mad storms that shred and shriek_

 _Our stories are forgotten_  
_History is now unclear_  
_For this we've all paid great a price,_  
_At risk is all held dear_

 _They locked the door to salvation_  
_And swallowed up the key_  
_To pick the lock meant sacrifice_  
_And from the past be free_

 

A brief but long-feeling silence followed Sorey's translation, eventually broken by Rose. "Huh. Did the ancients like to write poetry or something?"

"I can't tell if that's supposed to be a record or something or a warning," Mikleo commented, bringing one hand up to his chin. "The change in tense makes it hard to pick. It doesn't feel finished, either..."

"Maybe the writer was an amateur poet?" Rose offered. "Or...just a really lazy one?"

Sorey shook his head. "There's definitely more, but I can't read it. The rest of it's too crumbled and faded." He finally straightened and stepped away, casting Mikleo an apologetic look. "It looks like there's nothing here about how to protect you from the Malevolence. I'm sorry, Mikleo."

Rose groaned, stepping away heading for the entrance. "So thanks to some vandal, the only thing we've got out of this trip is a weird half-faded poem that doesn't make any sense. That's just _great_."

"So, what now?" Sorey asked. "We've got no way to stop the Malevolence unless a Shepherd appears to purify it. And that hasn't happened in hundreds of years..."

"I have an idea," Rose said, making her way over to Sorey and snagging one arm around his shoulder. "How about you just enjoy the festival this week?"

Taken aback was a light way of putting it. Sorey stared wide-eyed at Rose's unconcerned and confident smile. "Huh?"

"Well," she continued, finally releasing him and pacing away a little. "We haven't found anything here, right? And standing around thinking about it isn't going to get us anywhere, either. The authorities are working on catching whoever stole all this crap, and I bet you they're gonna bring back all the artifacts if they can." She threw in a wink for good measure. "Until then, just relax a little and have some fun! If things get worse, then just take it easy for a while. It worked last time, right?"

Mikleo placed a hand on Sorey's shoulder. "She's right. We've done what we can for now. There's no sense in dwelling on it."

"Are you sure...?" Sorey asked. "It was making you really sick earlier."

"I'll be fine," Mikleo replied, giving him a reassuring smile. "For now, let's wait for the artifacts to be recovered. I wouldn't be surprised if the Scattered Bones bring them back before the police do. You remember the news story about how they found all those stolen copies of the Celestial Record, don't you? They had them back within a day or two."

Rose smiled proudly and nodded. "See? Mikleo gets it!"

Sorey let out a relieved sigh. It was so easy for him to get caught up in worry, especially where Mikleo was involved. Luckily, Mikleo and Rose both were particularly keen on whenever he was getting wound up and hardly ever failed to calm him. "Thanks, you two."

A breeze pushed its way through the exhibit, toying with the strings on Sorey's hoodie. "Are you all done?" Came Dezel's voice. "If there aren't any answers to be found here, then we don't need to be wasting any more time."

Mikleo looked irritated, but didn't have a chance to respond before Rose shook an angry fist at the wind seraph. "Hey! Can't you see we're having a heart-to-heart here?"

"I've been standing here the whole time. I heard every word you said."

"Then try to be a little more thoughtful, you jerk!"

Sorey couldn't help but chuckle, his anxiety from earlier vanishing. Rose always had a knack for helping him calm down, knowingly or not. As he watched her fuss at Dezel, he couldn't help but reflect on her earlier words. It was true that there wasn't much he could do for now, but as worried as he was for Mikleo's well-being, he knew that for now it would be best to wait. Things were far from hopeless. Everything would turn out fine, he just knew it.

 

* * *

 

They couldn't leave that musty museum fast enough for Rose's liking. Admittedly, she was impressed with Sorey's ability to memorize such trivial historic nonsense, but right now all she cared about was getting some proper food in her. Without further delay, she dragged Sorey and Mikleo to a nearby restaurant (she would have gone to the nearest fast food spot, but Dezel had sternly protested and they were all packed with tourists anyway) and covered the whole order. Mikleo had passed on ordering anything, as had Dezel, but between Rose's own appetite and her assurance that Sorey got a proper meal as opposed to accepting something cheap and small due to his modesty, there was still plenty of food to go around. She'd even caught Sorey sharing a few bites with Mikleo, _especially_ once dessert came around.

They passed by the Sparrowfeathers' stall on the festival grounds on the way back to check on progress. The twins were adding the finishing touches, and Sorey was all too eager to lend a hand. Sensing an opportunity, Rose waved over the water seraph accompanying them. "Hey, Mikleo... Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Mikleo nodded quietly, joining her behind the tent where they wouldn't be easily seen. No sense in speaking to him in public; as real as he looked to her, the only other resonant person in Ladylake was Sorey, and Rose was far less willing than him to look like a crazy person talking to thin air. "What is it?"

Rose took a deep breath, not to give herself time to think - she already knew what she wanted to say - but to calm her own nerves. "I never really got the chance to say this to you before, but...I wanted to say thanks."

The water seraph blinked. "Huh? For what?"

"For looking out for Sorey," she replied. "I mean, I haven't known him nearly as long as you or anything, but he's still kind of like a little brother to me sometimes, you know? The first time I noticed the same scruffy kid coming into my story buying cup noodles all the time...well, I got a bit worried that he was living alone somewhere with no one keeping an eye on him. Especially with how naive he is."

Mikleo smiled, folding his arms. "I remember that. Your shop is the closest one to our apartment, so we ended up just picking there as our place to pick up groceries. A little while after we became regulars there, I saw you sneaking some fruit and stuff into our bags at the checkout."

Rose almost asked how Mikleo knew, but considering he had been invisible to her at the time, it wasn't hard to really piece together how. "Yeah. I mean, I knew he wasn't really going anywhere else, what with how often he stopped in. And he was always really nice whenever he asked for help. It was kinda hard not to end up liking him."

"But then he tried to introduce you to me when you caught us trying to pick out rice," Mikleo added. "I think you screamed loud enough to wake the entire neighborhood that night."

A wave of shame came over her. That had certainly been an embarrassing day. "Yeah, I think I threw something at you, too." A box of toaster pastries, to be specific. They had bounced off of something invisible - Mikleo, she later realized - and had only caused her more panic. It had taken a lot of explaining on Sorey's part to keep her from screaming again. "I'm _really_ sorry about that. I hope I didn't make you mad or anything."

"It's fine. I don't hold any of that against you."

She looked up. "Really?"

Mikleo shook his head. "We seraphim are able to see into the hearts of humans," He explained. "It's not as though I can read your mind or anything, don't worry. I could tell that you meant no harm and that you were just frightened of something you weren't quite used to."

For all intents and purposes, Rose should have felt a little ill at ease, but something about Mikleo's words served to calm her. Not only that, but it was only just starting to sink in for her that _this_ was Mikleo. _This_ was the seraph that Sorey spoke so highly of, who he was so attached to. The boy that she had never been able to see, whom had startled her so badly on her first introduction to him that she'd nearly lost her voice with the resulting yelps of terror. And despite how straightforward and serious he could be, there really was no denying how truly kind he was. And, over time, how _normal_ he could be. That was something Rose had learned very quickly when hanging out around Sorey and Mikleo, be it in person or just chatting over the internet. The seraphim, for all they were hailed as deities and gods, were indeed powerful and influenced the world around them, not to mention almost immortal. But all the same, they were still people. They had feelings and goals and interests and lives of their own. While they did have a different perspective on the world than humans did, they still lived in it just like anyone else.

"It's okay if you're still nervous," Mikleo continued. "I don't blame you. There are times when Sorey tenses up when he looks at me, too. To be honest, this is a little strange for me, as well. You're the first human besides Sorey that's been able to see me. It's going to take a lot of getting used to."

"Well, don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because I can see you now," Rose said, giving Mikleo one of her mischievous grins. She'd wanted to do that for so long, it felt extra good to finally be able to do it. "Not that I'm gonna stare at your teeth again or anything. Just keep looking out for Sorey, got it?" Not that she doubted him at all - she knew just how close Sorey and Mikleo were - but she just felt the need to ask him to, for her own reassurance.

Mikleo smiled warmly, even chuckling a little. "Don't worry. I'll make sure he doesn't stay up too late reading again. Besides, _someone_ has to make sure he doesn't get in trouble."

After ensuring that Sorey and Mikleo had made it home safely, Rose returned to the shop with Dezel following her closely. Her mind was swarming with thoughts formed by the past few days. First, copies of the Celestial Record were being hunted down. Now, the museum exhibit... There was definitely a connection here, and the more pieces that fell into place, the more Rose was disliking the picture they formed. If her hunch was right, then they were in for one hell of a case. She really, really hoped that they were wrong.

The others were waiting for her when she got back. Dezel evaded her attempts to keep him out of the meeting room, so she settled for glaring at him and insisting he stay where she could see him. Luckily, he didn't seem intent on causing trouble, standing in an empty corner like he always did. As wary as she was of the wind seraph, Rose had to admit that it was a major relief that Dezel stayed out of the way. Still, she positioned herself to where she could keep a close eye on him no matter what.

"The vandal made it into the exhibit," Rose said, "But they didn't take everything. Just most of it, and that's still a lot. Did the patrols pick up on anything?"

Talfryn nodded. "We couldn't find a trail, but we got a few leads that led us to a witness who saw the culprit escaping. Looks like Lunarre was behind this one, too."

 _Of course._ It was times like this that Rose hated being right. "Then I think it's safe to assume that he's been 'hired' again, and probably by the same person." She folded her arms, straightening. "At least now we've got a pattern. The Celestial Record, ancient artifacts... I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm convinced that whoever's got Lunarre running around snatching this stuff up is _obsessed_ with taking away all traces and information about the Age of Chaos. In other words: someone wants the history of this place _gone_."

Unease spread through the room, and Rose took that moment to pause. She didn't need to be a history fanatic to know how important folklore like that was to a city like Ladylake. That, combined with her friends' fruitless hunt for answers, had given her enough clues to connect those dots. Of course, the why of the whole situation was still beyond her understanding, but it wasn't important. She was sure she knew what the culprit was up to, and that gave them an easier path to predict their movements and stop them. That was enough for now.

A gentle gust of wind passed by Rose's face. She cast a brief glance toward Dezel just in time to see him trying to hide what seemed like a proud smile. What was he so happy about...?

"What's the plan, boss?"

Rose glanced back at Talfryn. Right. She could deal with Dezel later. "We've got enough reason to believe that the next target might be somewhere around the Festival," she said. "So I want our patrols to be focused around there, but keep some elsewhere in the city just in case. I'll be doing an independent round myself. Treat this as a Class-A scenario. Got it?"

They were all in agreement. The meeting dispersed with everyone heading off to get some sleep for the night, while others left to take on the night shift. Rose headed out with Dezel following closely behind. He never said a word, not until they finally made it up to Rose's room, where she proceeded to sit down on her bed and stare at him with folded arms and suspicious eyes. Dezel opted to lean on the door frame, which was fine by her. Now that she was alone with him, she could ask him a few questions that she wasn't comfortable asking around her other friends.

"So you've been following me around for at least five years," she said.

"What about it?" Dezel replied.

"Five years ago, the Windriders were disbanded," Rose said, her eyes narrowing, "And reformed as the Scattered Bones."

"Because Lunarre betrayed you. I know."

A draft blew past, ruffling the collar on Rose's shirt. As prickly as he seemed, he sure seemed intent on his whole "Guardian Seraph" thing, and no matter how many times Rose tried to brush him off, he kept coming right back. To make matters worse, he was nearly impossible to read. If the eyes were the windows to the soul, then Dezel had had the right idea when he covered his up with all that shaggy hair of his. Even so, she could still feel his gaze on her. It felt different than when someone was merely staring. It was more like a subtle tugging at her soul, a nagging feeling deeper within than she even thought she could feel, than what she usually got with other people.

"You don't trust me?"

Rose shrugged, brushing off the feeling. "Nah, it's not that. It's just creepy finding out that some invisible weirdo's been following us around all this time. And since I couldn't see you or anything, I've got no way of knowing you weren't interfering the whole time."

The accusation earned her a scoff. "I don't intervene if I can help it. You and the others do just fine on your own. I only acted when it was necessary."

"When it was necessary, huh?" Something clicked in her mind. The incident from just yesterday, when the madmen attacked her, only to be thrashed by a force she couldn't see... "You mean like when those crazy people went after me?"

"Hellions," Dezel corrected her, ignoring her shocked look. "The only reason you saw them as _people_ was because your spiritual resonance didn't pick up on it at the time." He paused briefly, turning toward her a little and standing. "The night after that attack, too. Those hellions did something to you that wouldn't be fixed by just a bit of sleep. The wound might not have looked that bad, but that sort of pain doesn't just go away, not even with the best human-made remedies. You're lucky it was something that I could take care of."

Rose paused. She remembered the pain in her side bothering her that night. How it only faded after seeing what she'd assumed was an apparition. How the warmth that had spread from someone's hand had calmed her and eased the pain until it was gone. That she'd woken up feeling absolutely fine. "Last night, when I saw you..."

"...yeah." Dezel turned away again. "I'm not an expert with healing artes, but I know enough to patch up a wound like that one."

"I thought you said you never intervened if you could help it," Rose pointed out. Not that she wasn't grateful, but she was still suspicious enough of this strange seraph that she felt the need to clear up anything she possibly could.

She must've hit a nerve, or at least a soft spot, because Dezel's mouth twisted into an uncomfortable frown and he bared his sharp teeth in irritation. "I said exactly what I meant," he insisted. "Besides, that ailment was something that only a wind seraph is most capable of removing. Leave that kind of fatigue alone, and you might not even be able to _walk_ the next day."

He didn't seem keen on explaining much more than that. Rose wanted to push him for more, her suspicion urging her to keep questioning him, but she also knew better than to be reckless. It wouldn't do to make a so-called guardian mad, after all. "One more question," she said. "How much have you seen?"

Dezel paused. "What do you mean?"

"You heard me," Rose replied, eyebrows furrowed. "I want to know what all you've seen while following me around."

"...I've been following you for five years. I've pretty much seen everything."

Rose scowled. She really hoped he didn't mean what she thought he meant. " _Everything_ , huh?"

Apparently, the implications Rose was making hadn't hit Dezel right away, and he seemed more confused than anything. It took all of a moment or two for the realization to happen and he pulled back, a disgusted frown crossing his face. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

"How the hell should _I_ know?!" Rose shot back. "I couldn't see you until today!"

"It's not _my_ fault that your mind went straight to the-"

"Shut _up!_ Look, I need to get some sleep, so  _buzz off._ I'll deal with you tomorrow."

"But-"

"I said _get out!"_ Rose pointed at the entrance to her room. "See that door? _Use it_ before I push you through it myself!"

Dezel wasn't very happy about being ordered around, but Rose's withering glare apparently worked, and he exited her room. She slammed the door behind her, a somewhat satisfied grin crossing her face when she felt part of it hit him and heard the resulting grunt of pain. She heard no footsteps afterward; apparently he seemed content to stay right outside. Well, that was fine by her. She locked the door just to be on the safe side and flopped gracelessly onto her bed. Today was way too eventful for her taste; she more than welcomed the rest.

 

* * *

 

Sorey was ready to go at the crack of dawn and it had taken all of Mikleo's usual tactics to keep him from jumping off the walls in excitement. The festival didn't officially start until the afternoon, but he was too eager to care. Mikleo had mostly handled this by taking much longer to make breakfast than normal - leading to a very hungry and slightly grumpy Sorey when he figured out what was going on - and distracting him with talk of old stories and legends that the festival would be celebrating. Sorey hardly minded in the end; if anything it just made him all the more stoked to go. He'd even cheered up from the events of the previous day. While he was still rather disappointed in how the exhibit turned out, there was still much waiting to be explored in the festival itself. Besides, Alisha had told him to enjoy the festival, and he planned on doing just that. He didn't want to disappoint her by moping his way through a perfectly good event that she worked so hard on, after all.

Of course, he'd made absolutely sure that Mikleo was feeling well before they headed out. As he texted Rose in hopes of finding a meetup spot, however, he got no response. "She's probably helping them run the booth today," Mikleo reassured him. "You know how she likes to be hands-on with this sort of stuff."

Alisha was difficult to reach as well. She'd replied to them somewhat belatedly, stating that she wouldn't be able to meet with them today, as she had important duties to attend to. She would only be free late in the evening, and agreed to meet with them then. Once that was sorted, Mikleo helped Sorey pack a bag before heading out: a little spending money, some snacks, a few bottles of water, and of course the Celestial Record ("Do you ever leave it at home?" Mikleo had asked him). Before long, they were headed out to the festival grounds.

The streets were lined with bright and colorful banners, all depicting the symbol of the shepherd and stylized depictions of the fabled hero wielding the sacred blade. Sorey could hardly stop the smile climbing up his face. There were locals and tourists alike everywhere, but fortunately the street wasn't so crowded that it became hard for Mikleo to maneuver around. There was a dog sitting on the edge of the road near the start of the festival grounds, causing Mikleo to briefly position himself behind Sorey. Fortunately, the canine seemed disinterested in doing more than staring at the water seraph before resuming his nap.

They stopped by the Sparrowfeathers booth, hoping to see Rose, but she wasn't there either. Felice informed them that she was on an important errand and probably wouldn't be around for quite some time, but she'd let Rose know that they were looking for her. Apparently, Rose left behind a few goodies especially for Sorey: two fresh mabo curry buns, and a snapback hat with the Sparrowfeathers logo embroidered onto it. Sorey happily accepted them, sharing the snacks with Mikleo as they walked down the path.

There were a myriad of shops, selling anything from cheap souvenirs to hand-forged swords to impressive works of art. There were even a few book stands that were hard to walk away from. Sadly, many of the books were out of Sorey's price range, but the owner of one of the stands recognized Sorey from the library and allowed him to stay and read as long as he liked, so long as he stayed out of the way of customers. "I wish I could sell them to you for cheap," he'd said, "But times are tough on us right now. Here's my card, though; I still want to return the favor for all the help you've given us with all our donations to the library."

While there were other events in the festival, Sorey and Mikleo were content to watch rather than participate. There was a storytelling stage, currently occupied by a few comedians, and a large band playing music as well. What caught Sorey's attention the most, however, was what appeared to be a small arena set up for swordfighting. Combatants of varying skill levels took part in mock battles against one another. Sometimes children would enter, and the supervising adults would have a friendly spar with them, usually ending in the younger participant winning a rather dramatic victory.

"All the blades are fake, of course," Mikleo noted, kneeling down and taking a look at the stash of weapons just inside the ring. "And all the participants are wearing armor, too. Nice to see them taking the necessary precautions."

"A lot of these people are really skilled," Sorey noted, eagerly watching two combatants go at one another. "I almost want to try it out myself."

Mikleo rolled his eyes. "You don't even know the first thing about sword fighting," he said. "You could take down prickleboars back in Elysia, but fighting another person is way out of your league."

"How about sparring with you and your staff?"

"Maybe, but a staff-wielder would give you different kinds of problems as opposed to a sword-wielder. You'd still lag a little."

Sorey laughed sheepishly, glancing at Mikleo. "I guess you're right. But still, it could be fun. I mean, not everyone here knows how to use a sword. It's not like I'll be going up against nothing but experts."

"You should still save yourself for later in the week," Mikleo reasoned. "The festival isn't going anywhere, and you don't want to wear yourself out too--hrk!?"

The seraph doubled over before he even finished getting the words out of his mouth. Caring little for whatever else he had to say or what the other nearby humans might think, Sorey caught him in his arms. "Mikleo?!" He cried. "Mikleo!"

"The...the malevolence..." Mikleo strained to stand again. "It's worse..."

A screech from the swordfighting arena drew both Sorey and Mikleo's attention. In the place of one of the participants was what appeared to be a reptilian humanoid, garbed in a tattered mockery of the armor he'd been wearing earlier, sword gripped in clawed hands. The referee watching had been replaced with a bipedal tiger, his fangs bared as he snarled loudly. Sorey turned to lead Mikleo away, only to find that the crowd around them had begun to shift as well. Growling werewolves, more angry beast-men, gurgling blobs that rose from nowhere... Even several deformed people with wings for arms, talons for feet, and beaks for faces. All of them begun mindlessly lashing out, and those that retained their human forms were beginning to panic and scatter.

"Hellions?!" Sorey cried.

"And not just one this time," Mikleo said, finally able to right himself. He drew his staff, smacking away one of the globs that threw itself at him. "There's no telling how many there are!"

No sooner than Sorey had grabbed one of the swords near the competition ring did he realize that the notion of fighting them at all was pointless. There was no way they'd be able to take all of them, not here and especially not with this many innocent people in danger of being caught in the crossfire. The crowd was simply too packed. There was only one option. Sorey barely even needed to voice it, as Mikleo was already hot on his heels when he screamed and made his move.

"RUN!"


	9. Sanctuary Lost

Rose's morning patrol had gone well. She'd seen Sorey and Mikleo poking around several stands, and honestly it hadn't been difficult to find them; Mikleo stuck out like a sore thumb among the crowd. No one else wore an outfit like that, nor did anyone have hair that pale a shade of white. Later on in the day, though, Rose decided to patrol the festival in a more "under cover" fashion. She packed her Scattered Bones uniform and mask away in a small backpack, along with a bottle of water and a basic first aid kit. Dezel offered use of his healing artes so that she wouldn't have to bring it, but Rose firmly ignored him in favor of a solution that wouldn't terrify the general populace. Out of habit, she found herself slipping in a few cookies as well, just in case she found herself with another pack of dogs following her. Dezel seemed particularly interested in that choice of cargo, summoning up a small breeze, but remained quiet. Rather than questioning it, Rose opted to count her blessings and head out the door before she could dwell on it too much.

Her first stop was the Sparrowfeathers booth to grab a bite or two to eat while checking on things. Apparently Sorey and Mikleo had come looking for her while she was on patrol. Pleased to see that her little package had been passed along, Rose snapped up a mabo curry bun and made her way towards some of the sword booths, with Dezel following closely behind as usual. Thank the Five Lords, he didn't bother her while she took a look at the daggers on display. A few cheery yips caught her attention while she was checking a few price tags, and she looked over to see the dog staying at the booth - a South Rolance Sheepdog - happily greeting the wind seraph following her. Dezel responded in kind, giving the old hound a gentle scratch behind the ears and several soft words that Rose couldn't quite make out over the crowd. Still, she couldn't help but be amused. For all the gruffness he exuded, he sure seemed like a sweetheart around that dog. It was almost like he was a completely different person.

Putting down the decorative dagger she'd been examining, Rose waved at the owner of the stall. "Hey, mister!" She called, pointing to the lazy canine. "This your dog?"

A jovial, heavy-set man glanced up, his gaze following Rose's gesture to the dog before looking back up and grinning. "Oh, you mean Lafarga there?"

Dezel froze.

"Yeah, him!" Rose replied. "Is he yours?"

The man laughed. "Sure is! Found him way back when he was a puppy, hidin' behind a dumpster when a windstorm came through Lastonbell. Real trooper, that pup. Didn't think he'd make it, but he pulled through just fine."

Kneeling next to the dog - and noting Dezel's stunned reaction - Rose pulled out a dog biscuit to offer the furry friend. Lafarga politely snapped it up, his tail thumping gratefully the pavement. "Pretty cool name for a dog," Rose remarked. "Where'd you get it from?"

"An old fairy tale," the man explained. "Heard it all the time when I was growin' up in Pendrago. Supposedly, Lafarga was the name of a wind spirit what brought good luck wherever he went. Seemed fitting enough for 'im. And ever since I let 'im stay with me at the forge, business has never been better! We're not makin' a fortune or nothin', but at least we don't have to pinch gald to feed ourselves anymore. Guess I picked just the right name for him, huh?"

"Lafarga, huh..." Dezel muttered, absently stroking the dog's fur. The dog whined happily, his eyes closing as he leaned into Dezel's hand. Rose gave the seraph a curious look, leaning forward a bit in hope of better discerning the odd expression he wore. A small breeze flew past her face, and almost immediately after Dezel frowned and turned away from Rose. She glared back. but didn't say anything. _Sheesh, what's his problem?_

"Say, lass," the man started, folding his arms and quirking an eyebrow. "Do you believe in seraphim?"

"Huh?" Rose blinked. "Well...yeah, sure I do. They're kind of a huge deal here in Ladylake." Granted, that hadn't always been the case. She'd denied the seraphim a long time ago, dismissing it as a local superstition. It was only her time with Sorey and Mikleo that had convinced her that so many things, seraphim included, were indeed real. Recent events had only begun to cement this, and admittedly she had been reluctant to accept the truths about Malevolence and hellions as well. At the rate things had been happening around her, however, she'd had little choice but to reluctantly accept them as reality.

He nodded in approval, grinning. "Good. Used to think it was only a bedtime story meant for kids, myself. Nowadays, no force in this world can convince me that rescuin' Lafarga here must've earned my home and business a seraph's blessing." He sighed. "I hardly feel deservin' of it sometimes, though. Can't even see 'em."

Dezel scowled, shifting to pointedly turn away from the man. "I'd take a clueless saint over a resonant lowlife any day," he growled under his breath, busying himself with scratching the dog's chin.

Despite how irritated Rose was with him, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness. It was true that almost no one could see seraphim. Not even she could for a while, and judging from how little attention anyone had paid to Mikleo's presence, Rose didn't think it was a stretch to say that she and Sorey were perhaps the only ones. It must be a lonely existence, to be certain. Mikleo had even once told her that his interaction with the world around him had to be minimal; frightening people with any sign of his presence could lead to malevolence, thanks to fear and superstition. That, and he never wanted Sorey to get in trouble, of course. He'd never said it, but she could tell it must have been hard for him. Had things been the same for Dezel? Was that why he was so prickly, perhaps?

Pushing the thought away before she could second-guess it, she gave the man a grin. "It's not your fault," she said. "Besides, I think they care a little more about whether or not you're a good person than anything."

A gentle, abrupt breeze blew past. Rose didn't have to look at Dezel to know that he'd decided to stare at her again (a feat, considering that hair of his). The man smiled. "I'm glad you think so, lass," he replied, straightening after a moment. "Well! In that case, I better do 'em proud, right Lafarga?"

Once more, Lafarga the dog let out a cheerful bark, its tongue lolling sideways out of its jaw.

The smith exchanged business cards with Rose, whom offered him a small discount on a few goods from the Sparrowfeathers shop. Dezel muttered a quiet and surprisingly heartfelt farewell and a request to 'look after his human' to Lafarga before they continued down the road. Rose took a deep breath. So far, so good. Pleasant conversation, good business... A great way to start off the annual Sacred Blade Festival. Nothing was going amiss...yet. _Yet_ , she told herself, because she had a gut feeling that it wouldn't be long before things went south.

She _hated_ being right.

The screams had caught Rose's attention first. Without waiting for Dezel, she made her way towards the commotion. It turns out there was little need to seek it out; it didn't take long for it to spread near to her. The place was in chaos; people were running and screaming, families were being separated. Most importantly, it was flooded with hellions. Everything sure went from zero to sixty quick...

With a press of a button, Rose sent off an emergency signal to the rest of her group from her phone, alerting them to a mishap going on at her location. There was no need to wait for them; she would deal with what she could while they arrived and did their part. Before all else, however, she scanned the crowd in hopes of finding two familiar faces. It didn't take long to find them: Sorey and Mikleo were weaving their way through the crowd at top speed, dodging angry hellions and swatting away any that came too close. She'd have to be fast if she wanted to catch up to them, and they were very nearly out of sight.

"We need to get over there," Rose said. "Now."

Dezel had no arguments, instead following alongside her with a strong tailwind to aid their speed. "They're heading for the alley near the hotel," he shouted over the crowd. "Cut behind the stalls!"

Without bothering to give him a response, Rose tore through the crowd, leaping up and using a werewolf's head as a vault to leap over a deformed tiger that took a swing at her. She dove over another, kneeling briefly to absorb the impact before charging towards the Lakehaven Regional Hotel.

 _Hold on, you two,_ Rose prayed. _I'll be right there, just hang on...!_

 

* * *

 

Sorey knew that running would only get them so far, but they had no alternative. They ended up in an alley next to a hotel, the sounds of chaos fading but far from gone. It was only then that Mikleo finally stumbled, and Sorey caught him by the shoulders to keep him from collapsing. Malevolence and exhaustion both... Mikleo really wasn't looking so good. Thank the Five Lords they at least got this small reprieve...

"Did we lose them?" Sorey whispered.

"Not for long," Mikleo replied. "Hellions are a seraph's natural enemy. It's only a matter of time before they track me down."

Sorey scowled in frustration and worry. He remembered now, how Gramps had told him that Hellions seemed to go after seraphim and those with resonance. He'd had so little experience, though, given that he'd grown up in Zenrus's domain and had thus never encountered such monsters. Even in Ladylake, though, they'd been practically non-existent until now... "We have to get out of here," he said. "If it's really this bad now, we might not be able to stay in Ladylake anymore." He hated the idea of leaving. He was so close with Alisha, and with Rose. He'd met so many kind strangers... Why this? Why now?

A bubbling groan cut off both Sorey's thoughts and any response Mikleo might have had. A formless, liquid mass slunk into the alley, rising and solidifying into a large glob with a set of fangs and little more. Sorey felt Mikleo flinch and tightly grasp his arm, and his heart raced in fear. Mikleo had his artes and his staff; he was far more effective at fending off hellions than he was. All Sorey had was that fake sword he'd stolen from the ring, and he doubted there was any way it'd be much help against this thing. Even as he felt helpless, he gripped the sword and tensed, ready to swing at a moment's notice. If that thing got too close, he'd fight with everything he had, no matter how useless it might be.

Mikleo braced himself against Sorey, lifting his staff and aimed it at the formless mass slinking towards them. The staff glowed feebly as he channeled a seraphic arte, but nothing more than a faint mist formed in the air. The water seraph winced, righting himself and aiming again. The hellion growled at them and coiled back, preparing to lunge.

A dagger flew through the air and lodged itself into the glob's back. There was little more than a gurgle of pain before it melted to the ground, fading in a hiss of smoke.

"Sorey!"

He'd never been happier to hear that voice. Sorey looked up to see Rose darting down the alley toward him, scooping up the fallen dagger as she went. Dezel was hot on her heels, his lips twisted into a tooth-bearing frown. Sorey was relieved that they'd stopped the monster, but the momentary reprieve was only enough for them to catch their breath. "Rose!"

She wasted no time in hurrying forward to their side. "Are you two okay?" she asked, hesitating only momentarily before reaching out a hand to help steady the water seraph. She was still clearly nervous, but right now her concern seemed to be outweighing her past fears.

Mikleo shook his head. "There's a lot of malevolence here," he said. " _Way_ more than before. I don't know if I can stand it being this thick."

"I could taste it all the way from the entrance," Dezel agreed. "Disgusting."

"We need to get Mikleo somewhere away from all the crowds," Sorey said. "This is completely out of control. I don't think we can even stay in the city for much longer if it's getting this bad..."

Rose shook her head, her teeth clenched in frustration. "The city limits are too wide. I'm no expert on this whole malevolence thing, but I get the feeling that leaving might take too long with the way he is now. Question is, if we've got no way to ward off Malevolence, what else are we supposed to _do?"_

Dezel folded his arms. Though he hardly gave an air of being concerned, Sorey could see his face twitch a little. "If the people are the primary source of the Malevolence here, then the obvious answer is to go where there aren't any people."

"But this is a _city_ ," Rose pointed out. "There are people everywhere!"

"Everywhere," Dezel replied, "Except for one place."

Sorey went through the options in his head. Where could he go where there wouldn't be any people, in a city as populated as Ladylake? There had to be some place that was blocked off, that no one would enter. The library was out of the question; there were still people working there during the festival. The museum was probably still being cleaned up from yesterday's debacle. That only left one place... "The Sanctuary," he said. "It's a historic landmark that they closed off ages ago. If we can get there, we could at least give Mikleo some time to breathe."

"H-Hang on," Rose said, her tone abruptly shifting from serious to frightened. "That place supposed to be haunted!"  
  
Dezel barely even turned in her direction. "What's your point?"  
  
"Is that why they closed it off?" Sorey asked, ignoring Dezel's remark for the time being.  
  
"Yeah," Rose replied, shuddering and rubbing her arms. "A long time ago, people started reporting some really weird stuff around there. They could never find out what it was, so they decided to just close the place off and keep everyone away from it."  
  
"But that means it's the only place in the city where no one is right now," Dezel pointed out. "If we want to get away from all the Malevolence, at least for a little while, we'll have to go there."  
  
They ran the whole way, barely even taking note of how tired their legs were getting. Dezel kept them moving quickly by way of a strong tailwind. Sure enough, that part of town was more or less uninhabited. The Sanctuary remained as majestic and mysterious as ever. The fence surrounding it now felt more like a mocking obstacle than anything. Rose led the group around to an alley behind the Sanctuary and pulled a pair of wire clippers out of her backpack, climbing half-way up the fence and beginning to snip the barbed wire. He had half a mind to ask her why she was carrying something like that around.

"Is it really okay for us to be sneaking in like this?" Mikleo asked. "I though we were only staying close, not going inside."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Rose pointed out, remaining focused on her task. "Besides, I dunno about you, but I'll take getting in trouble with the law over letting my friend suffocate from Malevolence any day."

Mikleo gave an irrate grumble of protest, but even he didn't argue with Rose's logic. If there really were hellions and malevolence showing up, they were going to need all the help they could get, legal or not. Once the barbed wire was out of the way, they all took turns climbing over. Dezel, however, turned and began heading back to the entrance of the alley. Rose called after him. "Hey! This was _your_ idea, Fangface! You coming or not?"

Dezel paused a few paces away. "The Sanctuary is only going to stay Malevolence-free for so long," he said. "I'm going to get our Plan B ready and guard the place from the outside. You'll hear from me if anything happens."

"Fine by me," Rose grumbled, jogging to catch up with Sorey and Mikleo.

They barely got up the steps before Mikleo's legs gave out. Sorey caught him by his arm, dragging him back to his feet, but the water seraph was too exhausted to stand. "Just a little further," Sorey urged. "Once we're inside, we'll be safe."

Mikleo shook his head. "I-I can't," he said. "I'm exhausted..."

"Then here, let me carry you." Without waiting for Mikleo to reply, Sorey slung his companion's arm over his shoulder and knelt down to pick up Mikleo's legs, using one arm to support his back. Luckily, there were no arguments, and the water seraph used what little strength he had left to maintain his balance and keep a good enough hold. Sorey made his way carefully up the steps and to the door, where Rose did the honor of opening the way.

At any other moment, Sorey would be reveling in excitement of a potential new discovery, but his concern for Mikleo outweighed this by far. As he made his way into the dark interior of the forgotten landmark, he glanced about for a proper place to sit down. The air smelled almost pleasantly of ash, parchment, and dust, and the floor underneath was surprisingly sturdy despite its apparent age.

The Sanctuary wasn't very well-lit, but there was still enough sunlight filtering through the stained-glass windows to be able to see. The color was a bit faded from the glass, and fractured in a few places. The stone that constructed the pillars and walls was cracked and showed some damage, even a few scorch marks, but from the way things looked, they were far from recent. The rugs that covered the floor were worn and bore several holes, the banners that fell from the ceiling reduced to tattered remnants of their former beauty. Two sets of steps descended to a central area from the higher platform, and there were balconies overhead for more seating, perhaps in case the enormous auditorium on the first floor became full. It was a sad, but breathtaking sight.

On a nearby altar crackled a small fire. Though it glowed feebly, its warmth permeated the entire sanctuary. It was a comfortable warmth, something about it sinking into Sorey's skin and soothing the exhaustion and fear he'd felt earlier. He'd had a cozy night near a fire before in Elysia and even at Alisha's manor once, but nothing even close to this level. It took him a few seconds to snap out of his trance to wonder how the fire had come to be here in the first place.

"No wonder they call this place a Sanctuary," Mikleo remarked. His voice still sounded tired, but it was much less ragged now. "Sorey, put me down over there."

Nodding, Sorey made his way to the altar, gently kneeling down and helping Mikleo sit next to the fire. After making sure the water seraph was comfortable, he took a seat next to him, letting out a sigh. Only now did it really occur to him how tired he was after all that panicking and running. Mikleo must have had it far worse, what with the Malevolence affecting him so. Rose sat down cross-legged in front of them, with notably less grace. She didn't look quite as tired as they were, but she looked stressed all the same.

Only once Sorey had finally caught his breath did he take another good look around. Near the altar was a pedestal, in which was a beautifully crafted sword. The blade itself seemed brand-new, gleaming brilliantly and vibrantly, with the hilt elegantly carved and crafted. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, or just the overexertion talking, but he could have sworn he saw a glow around it. Only a few moments later when he realized how familiar it looked did it click just what he was looking at.

"Mikleo," he whispered, pointing at the sword. "Do you think that's...?"

The water seraph, whom looked almost asleep, stirred and glanced over to where Sorey was pointing. There was a moment of hesitation before his eyes widened. "It can't be," he breathed. "Is that really the sacred blade...?"

Rose blinked. "Huh. So _that's_ where that old thing was."

It was incredible. No one had ever seen the sacred blade, not since the last Shepherd had appeared. Countless expeditions had hoped to find it, the Celestial Record spoke tirelessly of it, but its locale had been an absolute mystery for centuries. Something between disbelief and amazement settled over him as he looked at the ancient sword, the jewel in its hilt sparkling. It was in such pristine condition, as though time had never once touched it. Had it really been here all this time, hidden under everyone's noses?

Before Sorey could pose any questions out loud, Mikleo straightened and tugged on his sleeve. "Sorey, look! Just below it!"

What he saw stunned him. Between the sets of stairs was a woman, garbed in white and red, with long flowing hair tied back in a barrette. Her dress seemed timeless and elegant, and her hair was tipped in red. She lay quietly on the stone, head resting on her hands, eyes peacefully shut. She didn't appear hurt, thank goodness, only resting. A woman, seemingly out of place in time, with red-tipped hair, sleeping away in a closed-off building...  
  
"A woman?" Rose said, incredulous. "I thought this place was empty."  
  
"That's not an ordinary woman," Mikleo whispered, apparently having put together a few of the same pieces that Sorey had. "I'm pretty sure that's a seraph."

Rose blinked, sitting back. "Whoa, hang on! You mean this whole time there was a _seraph_ hiding out in a fenced-off national landmark?!"

"Seems that way," Sorey replied. "At least it explains all the hauntings. It wasn't ghosts or anything like that. There was just a seraph living here."

"Do you think she knows about the Malevolence in the city?" Mikleo asked.

"We can ask her about that if she wakes up," Sorey said. "For now, you should get some rest."

Mikleo rolled his eyes. "You're tired too, you know..."

Although lunch hadn't been that long ago, enough time passed that the two humans in the Sanctuary were getting hungry. Sorey shared some of his potato chips and candy with Rose. It wasn't filling, but it would do for now. At some point, Sorey had dozed off, Mikleo leaning his head on on his chest. Seraphim didn't need sleep like humans did, but they both knew that it still helped at a time like this. It was a peaceful enough nap, and apparently a long one; when they woke up, the sunset was filtering in through the paled windows. Mikleo was feeling far better than he was before, and according to Rose, Dezel had checked in at some point while they were asleep. According to the news feed from Rose's phone, the festival grounds were still in chaos, but now it was more from public panic than any attacks. The Scattered Bones had apparently done a great job in dispersing the crowd safely.

"Now all we need is a way to get Mikleo to safety," she remarked, slipping her phone back into her backpack, "If there even _is_ a way for us to do that. How're you feeling?"

"So far so good," Mikleo replied, sitting up. "The Sanctuary's practically malevolence-free. How about you, Sorey?"

"A lot better than earlier," Sorey said. He stood, brushing off his pants. "I'm glad you're feeling okay."

The fire nearby flickered and cracked, abruptly growing a little in strength. A pulse of warmth blew through the Sanctuary, and Sorey turned just in time to see the mysterious seraph stirring. Sorey suppressed a gasp, quietly hurrying towards the steps to get a better look. The seraph yawned, stretching her arms out as she rose from her slumber. Teal eyes opened, her expression shifting from calm to anxious, before she turned to find Sorey standing nearby. She jumped back, gasping just a little, but showed no fear. If anything, she seemed surprised. It was only reasonable, Sorey told himself. If she's been hiding in here all this time, perhaps it's been a while since she's come in contact with humans, let alone humans that could see seraphim.

"I'm sorry," Sorey said gently. "I hope we didn't wake you."

The seraph shook her head. "No, it's quite alright," she replied, her voice as light and graceful as she looked. "Actually, I think I must have overslept."

"May I ask your name?" Sorey asked, careful to keep his tone gentle.

She seemed a little surprised at first, and it took a moment for her to respond. "O-Oh, of course! I am Lailah."

"It's nice to meet you, Seraph Lailah," Sorey said, bowing politely. "My name is Sorey."

An almost sad smile crossed Lailah's face, though that sadness quickly faded and made way for a welcoming calm. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sorey. Tell me, what brings you here?"

Sorey cast a sad glance back to Mikleo and Rose before replying. "My friend Mikleo wasn't feeling well. We had to get away from the Malevolence that's affecting Ladylake so that he could rest. The festival has a lot of people in another part of town right now, and the Sanctuary's been closed off for a long time, so this was the only place we could go."

"I see," Lailah murmured, her eyes cast downward.

"We didn't mean to trespass like this," Mikleo added. "We'll be leaving once everyone is feeling better."

Lailah quickly shook her head in protest. "No, it's alright! You may rest here as long as you need to. I don't mind."

Mikleo blinked. "Isn't this your home?" He asked. "I mean, granted, a lot of seraphim don't really have homes the way humans might, but..."

"Something like that," Lailah replied with a warm smile. "I wouldn't quite call this place my home, but I _have_ been here for a very long time." She looked away, looking almost comically lost in thought. "Let's see... I think it's been...three hundred years since I've left? No, it must have been more than that..."

"Three hundred?!" Rose blurted, her jaw dropping in astonishment. "You've been alone in here all this time?!"

Fortunately for all of them, Lailah hardly seemed bothered by Rose's outburst, as ready as Mikleo looked to admonish her. "Yes. It _does_ get a little lonely in here sometimes, but I don't mind too terribly much. It's very important that I remain here."

Such a claim struck Sorey as odd. Why would a seraph bind themselves to a single place for centuries, enduring such loneliness like this? "If you don't mind me asking," Sorey asked, careful so that he didn't sound rude, "How come you've stayed here for so long?"

The answer wasn't immediate. Lailah's warm smile faded, her gaze first sliding to the floor, then up to the blade in the pedestal just above her. "I'm waiting for a Shepherd to appear," she finally replied, almost wistfully.

Rose folded her arms doubtfully. "Waiting for a Shepherd? What, are you supposed to be the Lady of the Lake or something?"

The seraph nodded. "Yes, I am."

Sorey wasn't sure what astonished him more: the fact that Lailah had responded so seriously to a statement meant to be a sarcastic jest, or the realization that he was indeed in the presence of a legend he'd read about a thousand times over, someone whom so many people had dismissed as merely part of a story. The Lady of the Lake, whom would bestow the power of purification upon only those whom were worthy and pure of heart, allowing them to wield the sacred blade... There were so many variations, but many facts converged and remained the same. Either way, it hit him like a bolt of lightning, and he had to restrain himself from gawking. There really was no denying Lailah's identity; the conviction in her response felt too real.

"What?!" Rose cried. "Then that whole legend really _is_ true?!"

"The world's full of strange things," Mikleo pointed out. "Still...to be meeting the Lady of the Lake herself... I never thought I'd ever get this kind of privilege."

Rose eagerly approached Lailah, her eyes wide in excitement and wonder. "So, you've got like those purifying flames and stuff, right? The ones that people would give offerings to way back in the dark ages and stuff to cleanse their souls of evil?"

The enthusiastic notion barely fazed Lailah, but she did smile in mild amusement all the same. "Well, I wouldn't quite put it _that_ way..."

"But you must know how to purify Malevolence, right?" Sorey asked, his heart lifting in hope. If anyone would know how to purify Malevolence, it would be her. This was perfect; this was _exactly_ the kind of help they'd been looking for! "That's why we came to rest here. There's Malevolence all over the city. At the rate it's going, Mikleo won't last very long."

"I am afraid it is more than just this city," Lailah replied. "The Malevolence is affecting the entire world. From what I can tell, it's only recently been able to affect Ladylake just as badly."

His stomach twisted into knots. How many other cities and towns were out there that were suffering just as much as Ladylake was right now? How many other seraphim were being affected, turning sick or worse? And if the Malevolence had only just begun to affect Ladylake, how much worse were things going to get? How much worse were things elsewhere? It was unthinkable.

"The whole world?" Rose echoed, her face etched with worry.

"That's a _lot_ of Malevolence," Mikleo said. "I can't imagine what the rest of Glenwood must be like right now..."

"Humans and seraphim alike are suffering from this," Sorey commented. "Isn't there _anything_ that can be done?"

Lailah shook her head. "I'm afraid not."

Sorey felt his heart sink, and his breath hitched for just the barest moment. That much despair and suffering, only for them all to be effectively helpless? "Nothing at all...?"

"Nothing can be done unless a Shepherd appears," Lailah explained.

So it all came back to this, then. The Shepherd was really the only one that could purify Malevolence. The legends had always stated that one would appear in a dire time of need, but that was now, wasn't it? If the Malevolence was all over the world, and just now reaching Ladylake, who knew how much time they had left before it spread to the rest of Glenwood and swallowed it up entirely? "There has to be something we can do," he insisted, if anything to reassure himself and keep his own spirits up. "I can't just stand here while the Malevolence harms innocent people. There's always a Shepherd whenever times grow dark like this, so we just have to find him..."

"How're we supposed to do that?" Rose asked flatly. "It's not exactly like we can post a wanted ad up on the internet or anything. 'Shepherd wanted to save the world from invisible and devastating evil, please respond asap!' Yeah, _that'll_ go over well."

"She has a point," Mikleo said, sounding equally as disappointed as Sorey felt. They all cast a glance to Lailah for help, but she seemed distressed as well, if not moreso than the rest of them.

Sorey closed his eyes for a moment. "Whoever touches the sacred blade," he began, reciting an entry in the Celestial Record that he must have read a million times, "Will have their soul judged by the Lady of the Lake. Should she deem them worthy, they will be able to draw the sword from its pedestal, and are bestowed the power to quell hellions." He looked up at Lailah. "Is that really the only way?"

Lailah opened her mouth to reply, but a loud _BANG_ cut her off. Her eyes turned fearfully towards the door of the Sanctuary as something slammed against them. The entire building trembled, dust falling from the ceiling as the fire flickered and weakened. Rose drew her daggers, turning towards the door and taking a few wary steps towards it, placing herself in front of Sorey and the two seraphim. "Uh, guys?" She began. "You wanna save your game of Twenty Questions until we've dealt with our little visitor here?"

A dark haze covered the windows as the slamming increased, the Sanctuary becoming eerily dark. Finally, the doors gave way and burst into rubble, and an enormous reptilian beast crashed through. The monster's sickly green scales glimmered in the darkness, glowing red eyes wide with hunger. It let out an almost throaty hiss, its neck flaring like a cobra's hood, whip-like tail lashing.

"No way!" Rose cried as the monster crawled forward, snarling and baring its fangs. "I thought this place was safe!"

"Dezel was right," Mikleo noted, summoning his staff and holding it at ready. "This place wasn't going to last forever! We have to get out of here!"

"We're going to have to get past this big nasty first! C'mon!" With that, Rose charged forward.

Lailah stood. "Wait, stop! It's too powerful-"

The beast swung its tail. Luckily, Rose as faster, leaping over it and launching herself onto its back. She buried a dagger into its shoulder, eliciting a screech from the monster as it spun around, snapping its jaws at the nuisance on its back in a vain attempt to remove it. Mikleo flung out twin jet-streams of water at the monster's legs just as Rose finally leaped away, but the impact did little more than slow it down and irritate it. Rose approached again, this time throwing one of her knives at the great lizard's neck. It missed, but managed to lodge itself in the monster's ribs. In place of blood, dark smoke hissed and flowed into the air, black particles not unlike embers scattering about.

With a scream of pain, the lizard thrashed, its tail smashing pillars and destroying parts of the balconies. Sorey scrambled out of the way of a falling chunk of stone. He regained balance just in time to realize that the monster had come a little too close for comfort, and he only barely managed to block a slash of its claws with the fake sword he'd acquired. Though he'd spared himself from being slashed to ribbons, the force of impact was still enough to send him skidding across the ground. He was down just long enough to see the lizard scampering towards him, head low, hood flared, fangs glimmering greedily. It rushed forward to strike, but Sorey rolled out of the way, burying his sword into its foot. The weapon may have been blunt, but his desperation had given him enough strength to impale the monster with it.

Mikleo's voice rang out in the Sanctuary, a stream of ice racing across the ground until it spiked up from the ground, smashing into the lizard and distracting. "Sorey, run!" he cried. "We'll handle it!"

"No way!" Sorey protested fiercely, tearing his sword out of the beast and throwing a slash to the hellion's legs. The speed of the strike wasn't enough to cut through the scales, but he did manage to chip one of them off somehow. "If we leave this thing, who knows what it'll do to the city!"

"And if we stay here who knows what it'll do to _us!"_ Rose shot back. "It's way too strong! I don't think we stand a chance!"

"She's right!" Lailah cried. "That hellion is far too powerful!"

Rose leaped over another tail swipe, racing to catch her balance before she turned back to the Lady of the Lake. "You're the one with those purifying flames, aren't you?!" she shouted. " _Do something_ before it tears this place down!"

Lailah shook her head. "I can't! The power of purification can only be wielded by one whom draws the Sacred Blade and-"

"Then I'll do it!"

Sorey's lack of hesitation in answering elicited gasps of shock from Rose and Mikleo, while the fire seraph seemed taken aback. He hardly cared about that, though. The Malevolence was getting worse, and there were hellions spreading across Ladylake. This was about more than just Mikleo being affected. People were getting hurt. Lives were in danger. It was more than just this city, and it was still spreading. It had to be stopped, and so far, no one had stepped up to the task. Sorey wasn't about to wait around until someone did, not while those close to him were in danger.

Mikleo gave Sorey a wide-eyed look of alarm. "Sorey, are you nuts?!"

Ignoring the water seraph, Sorey darted up the steps towards the sacred blade. "There's no time!"

Just as his fingers brushed the hilt of the blade, everything seemed to stop. The embers from the fire nearby hung in midair, the shards of ice that Mikleo had summoned halted in their path. Rose hovered inches away from a claw swipe that she was dodging. Everything went silent and still, and yet a foreboding aura still clung to the air. He wasn't sure if he didn't dare to move or breathe, or if he simply _couldn't_.

"Sorey," Lailah began, her voice quiet but urgent. "The path of the Shepherd is one that is lonely and arduous. To wield the sacred blade, and the power of purification, means that you must become my vessel. You will be forced to make the most difficult decisions any human could ever face. You will become a connection between the world of humans and the world of seraphim, but you will know acceptance in neither. It is a heavy burden to bear, and not one that should be made with haste." She paused, only for a moment, gazing at him with resolution and sorrow. "Bearing that in mind, are you _certain_ that this is the path you wish to take?"

Her kindness, her concern... It was almost tangible. Sorey found himself pausing, not from indecision, but to allow her feelings to sink in. The legend had spoken of the Lady of the Lake as someone with utmost grace and wisdom, as one whom alone could judge the souls of mortals and deem them worthy or not of drawing the sacred blade and taking up the title of Shepherd. While he did not doubt that any of that was true, to bestow such a heavy burden upon others must have been terribly difficult for her as well. Her expression now, the sadness in her words, her request for his own reassurance, all of it was enough to really sink into him and make him truly question his decision.

All it took was one glance at the furious hellion, the destruction it wrought. How Rose, for all her capability, was fighting with all she had just to contain the monster. How Mikleo was giving it his very best despite not being able to fell the beast either, fighting against the crippling weight of the Malevolence that was slowly choking Ladylake...and the rest of the world. And though the outside world was obscured, all it took was one glance at the door to remember that there were others all over the world suffering just as badly, if not worse. His heart was already set. With so much at stake, waiting for someone else to appear was out of the question.

He nodded firmly. "Yes," he said, "It is. There are countless people and seraphim alike in danger right now, both in Ladylake and the rest of this world. If I can protect them and make this world safe again, then it's more than worth that price. I can't stand by and do nothing. The world is suffering. They need a Shepherd. If that's going to be me, then I'll gladly accept that burden!"

Lailah nodded in approval. Her hesitant sorrow melted away, replaced by a fierce determination. "Then draw the sacred blade! Seal our pact!"

No sooner than his hand tugged at the hilt of the sacred blade did Sorey feel himself gasp in shock as a fierce wave of heat overtook him, searing him to the core and pulsing with such strength that he thought he'd burst. He winced, squeezing his eyes shut and clamping his teeth together. It was all he could do to keep from trembling or pulling away as the blade's weight threatened to drag him down, as his hand was scathed by a force he couldn't see but could feel all too well. After a moment, the pain began to subside. His skin tingled, almost pleasantly, and he felt the heat spreading more evenly through him, almost embracing him. He felt tired and invigorated all at once. A light shone from the pedestal as he fully drew the sword out of it, blinding him momentarily and obscuring everything from view.

_"I bear to you my true name."_

He felt the heat pulse once again, and for a reason he couldn't discern, he dared not open his eyes. The voice...it was certainly Lailah's, but it came from within. It rang out with a clarity he'd never known before in his life, and yet nothing about it felt foreign. Ancient words he'd never heard before embedded themselves into his soul before he could even finish deciphering them.

_"Now, Sorey! Call upon my power, and the flames of purification! Quell this hellion and burn away its Malevolence!"_

It came to his lips before he thought to question it: "Fethmus Mioma!"

With each syllable came a rush of power that eventually formed a burst of flames that cloaked him and obscured him. A blade in his hand that felt heavy yet weightless. Rising within was a strength he'd never known before. His eyes snapped open, and he could see the dark clouds that swarmed the Sanctuary. The sickly cloud that emanated from the enormous monstrosity that clung to the walls, the streams of malevolence that leaked from its jaws like smoke as it hissed at him. Its eyes locked onto him, forgetting all about the seraph and human that were fighting it.

The Sanctuary was bright with flames, dancing off the blade in his hands. Embers gleamed in the air, spreading to fill the chamber with their light. Sorey barely registered Mikleo's shocked cry, nor Rose's shouts. He dashed forward with a speed that couldn't have been his, an agility and awareness that he previously thought impossible. As he swung the sacred blade at the hellion, he realized that he did not swing it alone. He felt something guiding his hand, something deep within moving _with_ him. A single strike at the beast's shoulder was enough to shock it and cause it to lose footing. Somehow, Sorey managed to coil down and cling to the wall himself for a few seconds, long enough to watch the great hellion crash into the ground. As it stood, rearing up and preparing to leap at him, Sorey launched himself towards it once more. Fire trailed behind him, and without thinking he slashed the blade into the beast, cleaving into it.

As he skidded to a stop, Sorey heard the beast hissing and screeching, and he looked over to see it writing in pain as white flames consumed it. Finally, its struggles ceased, and it collapsed to the ground with a loud _thud_. As the monster gradually burned to cinders and faded, the white flames also slowly flickered and died away, revealing a tiny gecko that scampered off in a hurry the moment the flames were clear.

The darkness clouding the windows faded, allowing the last scraps of sunlight to filter through. The silence that followed the fight was overwhelming, but not unwelcome compared to the chaos from earlier. Only now did Sorey allow himself to catch his breath. He could hardly believe it... He'd quelled the malevolence. He'd purified a hellion, one that could have easily crushed and destroyed him. He still wasn't sure how he'd done it, let alone how he'd known what to do, but it worked, and it was done. Everyone was safe. He staggered for a moment, but quickly righted himself. The hellion may have been purified, but he wasn't out of reasons to worry yet. "Is everyone okay?"

Both of his companions stared at him initially, rather than answering. Mikleo looked more baffled than anything, and was the first to speak up after a few long seconds. "Sorey... What _happened_ to you?"

That...wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting. Sorey opened his mouth to explain that he was fine, but something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. The sacred blade in his hand had _changed_. Its shape and size had shifted, and it looked more elegant and far larger than the one-handed sword he'd seen earlier. Upon noticing that, his gaze traveled to his sleeves and...robes?

Those were _definitely_ robes. White, trimmed in gold and red. Long and flowing, almost elegant. Whatever these were, he sure hadn't been wearing them a few minutes ago. His reflection in the blade itself revealed that his face had changed as well. In place of his usual green eyes were a pair of fiery red. His hair had gone from brown to sandy blonde, and along ponytail trailed behind him. The only hint that this was indeed his own face and not a mirage was the fact that his reflection moved with him. A twinge of panic rose in the back of his mind. What _had_ happened to him?

"I...don't know," He finally answered, when he remembered that Mikleo had spoken. "But I feel fine."

 _"Sorey's fine, don't worry!"_ Lailah's voice answered. _"I've joined my power with his, and-"_

The Lady of the Lake was cut off with a frightened wail from Rose. "Get your voice out of my head! That's creepy!"

_"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"_

"Aagh! Seriously, cut that out!"

Sorey let out a chuckle at Rose's antics. If she was more concerned with hearing Lailah's voice in her head, then she must be alright. She was hardier than she looked, after all; he rarely needed to worry about her. "How about you, Mikleo?"

Slowly, Mikleo righted himself. His hand lowered from his chest, and he stared at it. "There's still Malevolence here, but...it's almost like something's pushing it back."

 _"The domain is keeping it away, but it can only reach so far,"_ Lailah warned. _"Stay close, Mikleo."_

Sorey paused. _Domain?_ It took a moment for Sorey to process that Lailah must have been talking about her own domain. Right. That was something seraphim could do, especially with a vessel. He rubbed the side of his head with one hand. Odd... When had his mind gotten so foggy? A quick shake of his head seemed to clear it up, but he felt it lingering at the edges of his consciousness, creeping ever closer.

Dezel appeared just inside the crumbled doorway in a burst of wind, pausing only for a moment while a breeze blew through the room - and briefly wearing a stunned expression - before speaking. "We've got more company," he announced. "There's a whole swarm of hellions headed this way."

"No time to rest, then," Mikleo groaned. "We'd better get out of here before they catch up."

Rose quirked an eyebrow. "How? We don't exactly have a getaway van or anything."

"We do now."

All eyes turned to Dezel, whom was already headed back outside. "They're closing in fast. You can explain what the hell happened once we're out of here!"

"He's got the right idea," Mikleo said. "We should leave, now!"

No one questioned it. Grabbing their bags, the group fled the Sanctuary through the rubble, Sorey still gripping the sacred blade in his hand. As they emerged outside, they were met with a foreboding cloud of darkness. Sorey felt something invisible weighing down on him all of the sudden, and a bad taste settled into his mouth. It didn't take long to discern why: a whole crowd of hellions just like the ones he'd seen at the festival grounds had begun gathering near the sanctuary, and they were all staring directly at him.

 _"This is bad,"_ Lailah's voice whispered fearfully. _"We can't take on this many hellions at once!"_

"Think we can outrun them?" Mikleo asked, holding his staff at ready.

_"I'm afraid not."_

Rose scowled. "Damn it! Is there some way we can cut our way through, at least?"

The answer came in the form of a strong gust of wind that lifted an approaching werewolf off the ground, leaving it to flail helplessly in the air. Nearby, Dezel had one hand raised, a winged pendulum dangling from one finger, his lips curled into a tooth-baring snarl. Abruptly, he waved his hand to the side, the wind hurling the hellion into the crowd. Lailah cried out something in protest, but Sorey barely heard it; Dezel made a mad dash for a van that had been parked nearby the Sanctuary. "Everyone get in! _Now!"_

They didn't need to be told twice. All three of them - four, technically - darted towards the car, diving into the open back door before slamming it behind them. There was a large toolbox strapped to one side, a small ladder folded up in another corner, and what appeared to be several coils of wire. There were no back seats, leaving them all to hold on to the bars covering the back windows.

Once inside, Rose climbed hastily into the front seat as a few hellions began banging the side of the van. "Can seraphim even drive?!"  
  
"I can," Dezel replied, rolling down the front window and turning the keys. The engine roared to life seconds later. "Everyone hold on. This isn't exactly going to be a smooth ride."

"Hang on, where did you even _get_ this car?"

"There was a maintenance office nearby. Someone was stupid enough to leave the keys inside."

"You _stole_ it?!"

"Aren't you the one that said desperate times call for desperate measures? Now shut up and hold on!"

Sorey heard Dezel slam his foot on the gas pedal, and the car lurched forward, turning abruptly and causing Mikleo and Sorey to tumble over one another as they lost balance.

Rose screeched. "What are you doing?!" she cried. "Are you even looking at the road?!"

"We're leaving the city!" Dezel roared. "Any longer in here, and we're all hellion food!"

"Then where the hell are we supposed to go?!" Rose demanded.

"We'll figure that out once we're safe!"

The sound of metal scraping against brick could be heard, and Sorey peeked out the window to see that Dezel was driving them through a particularly narrow alley. Sparks flew into his vision, vanishing only when they emerged on the street where Dezel made another sharp turn. Barely managing to keep his grip on the sacred blade, Sorey skidded across the back of the car, Mikleo slamming into him as he followed. The car thumped into the side of a building before it straightened out, and it surged as it skidded off of the sidewalk and back onto the road.

"You're going to get us arrested, you maniac!" Rose screamed.

"We're fleeing for our lives and you're worried about traffic laws?!"

"At least roll your window up!"  
  
"Would you shut up and let me drive?!" Dezel snarled. The mini-van flew over the hilltop, landing recklessly on the pavement below on the other side. Dezel hardly seemed bothered, but the rest of the passengers let out panicked screams as they were tossed like ragdolls. They shot past a police barricade, shattering it to pieces.

"We're screwed," Rose wailed. "We're screwed, we're screwed, we're screwed!"

Dezel bared his teeth in agitation. "There are still hellions behind us!" he shouted. "They're gaining!"  
  
Mikleo slid towards the back, hands still grasping the protective bars that covered the window, and fiercely kicked at the doors. After a few tries, the doors swung wide open, revealing a small pack of werewolves chasing after them, along with several birds and beast-men. With one hand gripping the bars, he brandished his staff in the other, screaming words that Sorey couldn't quite make out over the wind surging past them as they sped down the road. A trail of thick ice formed on the road behind them, and the werewolves slipped precariously, shrieking and falling over one another, while some went off the road entirely.

Sorey grinned triumphantly. "Great thinking, Mikleo!"

The water seraph nodded. "That takes care of the ones on land! The ones in the air might be too fast for me to hit!"

Gripping the sacred blade in his hand, Sorey clambered towards the back next to Mikleo. It was difficult to wield with one hand, but the strength coursing through his veins combined with the adrenalin rush gave him enough power to swing the blade with notable strength, sending a wave of white flame flaring outward. The flying hellions screeched on contact, the malevolence burning away from them as they fell from the air. Several of them dodged the attack, continuing their chase. Just as he prepared another strike, Sorey felt his knees beginning to buckle, and he pulled himself back into the van. His energy was fading fast, the fire he felt within him pulsing feebly compared to the roaring inferno he'd had earlier. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," he hissed.

 _"Don't push yourself, Sorey!"_ Lailah urged.

"I'll try to slow them down," Mikleo cried, turning his attention back to the road, "But we still need to get out of here before the rest of the hellions catch up!" He hurled twin streams of water at the birds, managing to strike the left wing of one of them and causing a mid-air collision between three others that were close, but the rest continued their pursuit undeterred. A few bolts of ice tore through the air and managed to take down another, but their numbers were still great.

"The city limits are up ahead!" Rose cried, pointing in front of them. "We can lose them there!"

Both Mikleo and Sorey seemed relieved to see an escape, but their hope was short-lived. Several lizard-like hellions like the monster from before clung to the archway leading into Ladylake from the bridge. The stonework was crumbling, with several bricks beginning to fall. There were traffic barricades well before the arch, pointing towards a detour to another city exit. As they got closer, Sorey saw even more bricks crashing into the ground, crumbling on impact, while others formed cracks in the pavement.

"We've got no choice!" Dezel snarled. "Everyone, hold on!"

"Are you nuts?!" Rose screamed. "That thing's gonna fall right on us-"

Dezel slammed his foot on the accelerator. The van surged forward, and all Sorey could hear were Rose's screams of terror as the arch finally began to fully give in. Mikleo and Sorey pulled themselves into the van, clinging to the front seats with every bit of strength they could muster. The falling masonry grew ever-closer, buildings became a mere blur. Sorey grit his teeth, his heart hammering in his chest, sweat dripping down his face, his lungs screaming for air as he held his breath. As he heard and felt the van smash through the traffic barricade, he prayed to the Five Lords that they'd make it out in one piece.

Just as the falling stone would have crushed them, the van sped through, and the gateway smashed into the pavement behind them, missing by inches.

The sounds of the ancient stone archway crashing to the ground only barely overwhelmed the screaming and roaring hellions, all of which faded away as the van sped down the highway. Silence took over, with only the wind rushing through the driver's window and the rumbling of the van's engine to be heard.


	10. High and Dry

For a while, he was almost scared to look. He knew they'd made it out safely. If his strained breathing and trembling limbs were any indication, Sorey was still very much alive, still clinging to the safety bars on the inside of the maintenance van's windows. Mikleo was clinging to him for dear life, his hands shaking. Rose had let out a few whimpers of relief and not much else. Everyone was fine. They'd made it out in one piece. Still, the reality of it all was still crashing down, not yet sinking in, and part of him wanted to cling to that emotionally weightless feeling of _not knowing_ for just a little longer. Eventually, Sorey pried his eyes open, turning to look outside.

The difference between the weather was almost night and day. When he looked in one direction, there were relatively clear skies. In the other, the clouds were unnaturally dark, thick with rain and thunder. Even worse, the dark fog had begun to cover Ladylake, growing even as the city shrank from view behind them. It crawled outward, eventually engulfing the crumbled archway and part of the bridge. Sorey could barely even see through it. And oddly, there was a _taste_ to it, too, if he focused enough. Metallic, bitter, and stale. It faded as they sped away from the Malevolence, but was still clearly evident.

It felt like they had been driving for a while, when it had really only been a few seconds. Sorey, Mikleo, and Rose were still catching their breath, and Dezel showed no sign of slowing down. Sorey was convinced that he didn't know how to properly use the brakes, but right now he was thankful for that.

"Did we lose them?" Rose finally asked.

 _"For now, it seems,"_ Lailah's voice replied. _"But I wouldn't rest easy just yet. There may still be hellions attempting to pursue us."_

"Then what do we do?" Mikleo asked, finally allowing himself to sit on the van floor. "We can't go back to Ladylake."

As much as it pained him to admit it, Mikleo was right. Returning to Ladylake as things were now would be a fool's errand. Even so... "But we can't just leave it like this, either!" Sorey insisted, his gaze lowering to the altered Sacred Blade in his hands, for lack of anywhere else to look. "Isn't there some way to push back that Malevolence?"

_"Yes, but not right now. You've only just made the pact, and it's taking its toll on you."_

"Taking its toll?" Mikleo asked warily, visibly stiffening.

 _"It will take some time to adjust,"_ Lailah continued. _"For now, you need to recover from that last battle. We can decide what to do once you've adapted to my power."_

"But I can't-"

Sorey felt a feeble yet insistent pulse of warmth in response. _"You mustn't push yourself so hard, Sorey!"_ Lailah's voice urged. _"You've more than earned some rest for now. We can help everyone once you've recovered."_

There was a moment's hesitation as Sorey debated the Lady of the Lake's words. He was still worried about everyone, sure, and he wanted nothing more than to ensure their safety. Still, if anyone knew the right course of action in a situation like this, it would be her. As anxious as he was, he knew to trust her words. He nodded. "Alright."

No sooner than he spoke, the sacred blade dissolved into small embers of light that flowed into him. He could somehow feel its presence slumbering deep within, as though waiting for him to call upon it once more. The robes vanished as well, revealing his usual hoodie and pants beneath. Other than the fake sword he'd stolen from the sparring ring still being tucked into his belt, it was as though that incident in the Sanctuary had never happened. For a moment, he was worried that somehow his pact with Lailah had been broken, but her presence remained. But then, if that were the case, what...had just...

He suddenly found himself overcome by a staggering weakness and fatigue. Sorey could barely keep his eyes open, let alone sit upright. He wavered on the spot, weakly gasping for air, and finally he fell. Everything went dark and silent before he even hit the van floor.

 

* * *

 

It was a disaster, at the end of the day. The festival had begun wonderfully, but somehow, for some reason, things had quickly turned sour. People went mad and attacked one another, the weather started acting up, and there was unexplained destruction all over the city. Alisha did her best to help contain things, and while the festival's opening day was inevitably ruined, no lives had been lost. There was no explanation on why there was an entire stretch of road covered in thick ice, nor the claw marks in it, but the madmen that had been flung to the side of the road from trying to run on it had been apprehended without difficulty.

Alisha was exhausted. The festival would continue, and she needed to be prepared to offer some proper words to the attendees. There was a blacksmith whom had been particularly friendly and understanding to her predicament, and as usual the Sparrowfeathers had been reliable and helpful, but everywhere else was chaos. The Scattered Bones had taken the liberty of stepping in and apprehending the worst of the criminals taking advantage of the chaos, and while the authorities didn't want to admit it, their aid was instrumental in keeping things under control. The princess only hoped that this debacle wouldn't ruin the rest of the week.

"Reports are coming in of two vandals who broke into and destroyed a local landmark, the ancient Ladylake Sanctuary...."

The mention of the sanctuary enough was enough to snatch Alisha's attention, her gaze zipping over to the television in her bedroom. Footage rolled of two people running through an angry mob outside the destroyed Sanctuary. One of them was carrying what appeared to be a sword, not unlike the Sacred Blade replica that had been seen in the museum. Nearby, the Sanctuary entrance had been smashed open, the barbed wire fence around it trampled to the ground. Smoke was escaping the sanctuary both through the entrance and in some of the shattered windows. The two vandals leaped into the back of a maintenance van outside the Sanctuary shortly before it sped off.

The footage paused and pulled up a few enhanced images of the two culprits: a red-haired young woman with blue eyes, and a brunette boy with green eyes and feathered earrings. Alisha could hardly believe what she was seeing. _Sorey? And Rose?_

"If anyone has any information as to the whereabouts of these two wanted criminals, please contact the Ladylake Police Department immediately."

It didn't make any sense. Sorey held such interest in the history and culture of Ladylake; she couldn't imagine him doing anything like this. And while Rose wasn't entirely interested in such things, she still respected it just as much as Sorey did. What could cause them to do such a thing? Or, perhaps, was she missing something?

No...this couldn't be the full story. She pulled out her phone, dialing Sorey's number. She didn't have to wait long; it went directly to his inbox. Desperate, she dialed Rose's next. Still no good. A quick look at the laptop showed both of them and Mikleo all offline. Had they truly fled? What was going on here?

 

* * *

 

Lailah had emerged from within Sorey - much to Rose's loud shock - shortly after he had passed out. Mikleo was worriedly examining the boy, fretting that something terrible had happened to him, but Lailah calmly explained that all was well. Not that Mikleo or Rose were convinced; Sorey was running a terrible fever and simply wouldn't wake up despite their best efforts.

"It's a side affect of him becoming my vessel," Lailah explained. "His body is adjusting to having new power dwell within it. He may be out for several days."

"Days?!" Mikleo exclaimed.

Rose couldn't agree more. "We're on the run from monsters and whatever the heck that giant cloud thingy is, and you're telling me that Sorey's going to be out for _days?!"_

Lailah seemed oddly calm about it. Maybe it was because she'd been expecting it, Rose reasoned, though the only thing that really kept her from being angry rather than surprised was that the Lady of the Lake seemed just as concerned for Sorey as the rest of them were. "Depending on his level of resonance," she began, "It could take more or less time than that. I could sense a very powerful resonance within Sorey, so I expect he shouldn't be out for very long."

Mikleo's eyes narrowed as he reached over to brush Sorey's bangs out of his face, pressing his hand on the boy's forehead. "Well, we can't exactly head back to Ladylake and rent a hotel room for him," he said.

"I know a place where we can stop to rest," Lailah said. "There shouldn't be any malevolence there yet."

"You don't mean the Aroundight Forest, do you?" Rose asked. "I dunno about you, but I don't think camping out in the Forest of No Return is the best idea."

Lailah shook her head. "Keep heading north along the road," she instructed. "I know somewhere closer."

The drive took a few hours, with Dezel refusing to roll his window up despite Rose's protests. Lailah and Mikleo remained at Sorey's side, doing their best to ease the boy's fever. Rose could hear him mumbling in his sleep from time to time, but he showed no other signs of consciousness. Before long, it became completely dark outside, and it took repeated pestering for Dezel to finally turn on the headlights (how he was able to stay on the road without them was beyond Rose's understanding). After passing through a small man-made canyon through one of the rocky hills, they finally arrived at a large national landmark...not that Rose could make out what it was supposed to be. Aside from the giant mud hole in the ground and the oddly stained cliffside nearby, there was a small plaque detailing the site and that was about it. The night was relatively silent, save for the few songs of crickets and toads and the group's own footsteps.

Only when they came to a stop nearby did Dezel finally roll up the window, and they all staggered out of the car, Mikleo carrying Sorey on his back. Rose glanced at her phone to check on any updates on Ladylake, only to scowl and put it away. There was no signal all the way out here. They were on their own.

"This should be the place," Lailah said. "It's probably not the most comfortable, but we can at least set up camp here until it's daylight again."

"Where do we head after that?" Mikleo asked. "We can't exactly go back to Ladylake. Even with a domain to keep the Malevolence at bay, that place is crawling with hellions now..."

Dezel scoffed. "Not like we have a whole lot of options. You saw the Malevolence. Going back into _that_ is a death wish."

"Give me those keys," Rose snarled, snatching the keyring from Dezel's hands. "Wherever we go next, _I'm_ driving."

"Fine by me."

Any retort Rose might have had was cut off by a small pulse of heat and light. Looking over, she saw a flaming sheet of paper hovering in front of Lailah for only a few moments before it lifted into the air and flared, shining a bit more light on their surroundings. Near the cliffside was what appeared to be a large trench of fresh mud, broken only by several rocks and boulders, leading from the nearby hole.

"I _thought_ it was too quiet," Lailah muttered. "There's supposed to be a waterfall here."

"There _was_ a waterfall here," Mikleo commented, violet eyes narrowed at the mud beneath them. "It looks like the flow of water stopped recently."

Rose's eyes narrowed. Of course. That hole of mud in the ground, the stained cliffside... She looked around. It was dark, but she started to recognize the area: it was the Great Morgan River. "That's no good," she mumbled. "This river is one of Ladylake's major sources of water. If this doesn't get fixed up, the city'll end up facing a drought."

Mikleo nodded. "They've got other sources, so I doubt it's an immediate danger. Still, it's not a good sign, and definitely not something to be ignored."

"For now," Lailah continued, "We should set up camp inside. The Malevolence hasn't spread quite this far north yet, so it should still be safe to rest here."

"Good," Dezel said, "Because we're pretty much out of gas."

Rose spun on him, eyes wide and lips curled into a frustrated snarl. "You waited until _now_ to tell us that?!"

Dezel folded his arms and looked away. "I was a little preoccupied earlier, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Hang on," Mikleo began. "You said we'd be setting up camp 'inside'. Inside _where..._?"

"Follow me," Lailah said, starting forward towards the cliff base. "Normally this place would be difficult for humans to access, but the lack of water might actually make it easier for us."

Leaving the van behind, the group followed Lailah quietly across several stones in the mud and up onto a higher stone platform. It took a little climbing, but the only real trouble was getting Sorey up onto it and continuing on. To Rose's amazement, what awaited was what strongly resembled a massive ancient temple hallway, carved into the rock. At the end of the hall stood an equally huge door, its ornate carvings and decor barely eroded. Lailah pushed the door open, to which it budged stubbornly before it gave way, groaning loudly as stone ground against stone in protest.

The first thing Rose noticed was that the air inside was noticeably more frigid than outside. The seraphim didn't seem too bothered, and Sorey was either too feverish or too unconscious to be bothered. Luckily, the chamber was somehow more well-lit than the entrance, though only by a little, and it was absolutely _massive_. A stone walkway, raised over a lower floor, stretched through the chamber to another similar door to the one they'd just passed through. In the middle of the walkway was a hexagonal platform with a few steps descending downward into the lower area, with a raised hexagon of stones in the center. On closer inspection, the centermost area of stone on the platform was a little stained and eroded. Overhead were walkways that stretched from one side of the cavern to the other, leading to ledges and other doorways. The entire place seemed to be carved into the cave, with frost-covered algae and moss growing on both stone and brick alike.

Dezel opted to remain behind the group, while Lailah kept the lead until they stopped at the central platform. Mikleo was walking a little slower than usual, taking in the sights while still keeping a careful hold of Sorey. "This isn't just some cave," the water seraph breathed. "This is a _ruin!"_

"The shrine of the water trial," Lailah explained. "Lefay."

"Some water trial this is," Rose remarked. "I don't see any water anywhere." She shuddered, rubbing her arms. "And it's _freezing_ in here."

Lailah nodded. "Yes. Normally this place is filled with streams of crystal-clear water. Something doesn't seem quite right..."

Mikleo's eyes narrowed in apprehension. Rose couldn't help but wonder if he sensed something. He was a water seraph, after all; weren't seraphim connected with their element in some special way? "Something's _definitely_ not right," he agreed, "But I don't think it's anything too urgent for now. We've got time to rest first before we investigate."

Rose eyed Mikleo warily. "Hang on," she said. "Who said anything about investigating?"

"Something about the river's been bothering me," Mikleo replied. "If a river's source dries up, it's usually more gradual than that. We would've been able to pinpoint the signs of it ages ago. The way the mud was outside, though, it was like the river's source just disappeared altogether, and it was _definitely_ recent. It's just not natural"

"So you want to investigate what's happened to the river, right?" It didn't exactly sound like a fun time, but she could see why Mikleo would be upset. For one, this was an ancient ruin - and she knew how much Sorey and Mikleo loved that sort of thing - that was missing something almost crucial to its own existence. On the other hand, as a water seraph, it could be genuinely concerning to him. Rose was worried as well, considering the lack of water could spell a drought for Ladylake, but she honestly hadn't considered it the river drying up being anything that could be addressed until Mikleo pointed out how odd it was.

"Yeah. Something tells me that Ladylake facing a drought isn't our only worry..." Gently, Mikleo knelt down and lowered Sorey to the brick floor. "We should wait until Sorey wakes back up, though. I don't want to risk heading further in while he's still sick."

Lailah sat next to Mikleo and Sorey, lowering the hovering flame with her. "You should get some rest too," she said. "It's been a stressful day for all of us."

Rose quirked an eyebrow at both serahim. "Aren't _you_ gonna sleep?"

Mikleo shook his head. "Seraphim don't need rest quite the way that humans do, remember?" he explained. "We'll keep an eye on things while you two rest up."

"Nothing's getting in here without my noticing," Dezel agreed. "There are no hellions and no malevolence in here, and there's only one way in. It's as safe as it's going to get."

But hardly comfortable, Rose grumbled inwardly. Still, she couldn't deny that she was pretty damn tired. Well, naps solved everything, didn't they? She doubted they'd be as effective if she was trying to sleep on such hard ground, and her backpack made for a poor pillow substitute (though thankfully having packed her Scattered Bones uniform had made it soft enough), but it would have to do for now. Curling up on the ground and resting her head on her backpack, Rose let out a huff of exhaustion and pleaded with her mind for some decent sleep.

 

* * *

 

Eventually, she _did_ sleep, but it was without a single dream, and it was hardly as effective as her naps usually were. She'd lost track of how much time had passed, but when she woke up it was still as dark as before. Dezel remained near the entrance, and Lailah had taken to sitting a short distance away and busying herself with what appeared to be papercraft. A low growl signaled that Rose's stomach was demanding breakfast, but all they really had was the snack food they'd packed for the festival. She ended up resigning herself to a packet of beef jerky, the toughness making for the perfect outlet to vent her frustration. Lailah had made a fire nearby to ward away the cold, and Rose couldn't be more thankful for it. Without it, she doubted neither she nor Sorey would have been able to get any rest at all.

Speaking of which, Sorey was still out. According to Mikleo, his fever had gone down considerably, and he'd woken up briefly not long ago. However, he'd been delirious and not entirely ready to be up and about; they'd managed to give him a bit of water before he was out again.

"He's a lot stronger than he looks," Mikleo said, shifting his seat a little while letting Sorey's head rest in his lap. "He'll be fine in no time."

"You sound confident," Rose grumbled.

Mikleo nodded. "I am. Sorey was sick when we first met him, too, but he was on his feet before we knew it."

Rose blinked. "He was?" She asked.

The young water seraph looked confused at first, realization only dawning on him a few seconds later. "That's right... I don't think I ever explained to you how I met him, huh?"

"Yeah, I kinda wondered about that." She stretched her limbs as she leaned back, staring upward at the roof of the cavern. Or at least where it was supposed to be; it was too dark to make anything out. "Sorey grew up in a village full of seraphim or whatever, right? Away from humans and modern society and all that. How'd you end up with him? You guys didn't kidnap him or anything, did you?"

"Of course not," Mikleo replied, looking only the faintest bit offended by her jest. "Gramps said that they just sort of...found him."

"Found him...?"

"Yeah. His mother had escaped Camlann's destruction during a hurricane and had crawled into Gramps's shrine hoping for shelter. Gramps sensed a human in his domain, so he went with a few of the others to investigate. When they found her, it was pretty clear that she wasn't going to last the night. They tried to heal her, but she'd insisted that they help her child instead of her. That child turned out to be Sorey." Mikleo gazed quietly at the fire before continuing. "He was so weak... They didn't think he was going to make it. But Gramps had told everyone that they should honor the woman's dying wish, and they did everything they could to nurse him back to health.  After a few weeks, he was doing just fine, walking around and playing as if he'd never been sick in the first place. He didn't seem to remember any of the trauma that happened beforehand."

Rose shifted her seat a bit, propping one arm up on her knee. After an ordeal like that, it was really a miracle that Sorey was alive to begin with. "And everyone just sorta raised him after that, huh?"

"They didn't intend to at first," Mikleo said. "But I guess he grew on everyone, so they ended up keeping him around. They were worried about Malevolence at first, but it's pretty rare for a little baby to generate much of it, if at all. Of course, the older a human gets, the more complicated things become for them, and that makes it easier for Malevolence to work its way in."

"Is that why you and Sorey left Elysia?" Rose asked.

Mikleo shook his head, smiling. "Not really. The seraphim in Elysia actually really grew to like Sorey. He turned out to be a lot more pure than anyone was expecting, so they decided to keep him around a little longer instead of trying to urge him to rejoin the human world. He and I left because we wanted to study more about what we read in the Celestial Record. We ended up moving to Ladylake since there's a lot of surviving folklore there about the seraphim and the legend of the Shepherd."

"But aren't _you_ a seraph, Mikleo? Shouldn't you know pretty much everything about them?"

"Not really. I'm sure you couldn't tell me everything about how _humans_ work, right?"

Rose blinked. He had her there. "...huh. Fair point, I guess."

Mikleo offered Rose a smile before turning back to Sorey and gently pulling the cloth off of his forehead. "Gramps and the others taught us a lot," he said, "But I still don't know everything. There are some things that never occurred to me to ask in the first place. I've run into problems and obstacles in Ladylake that I never would have encountered in Elysia. Like how a seraph interacts with their vessel, for example. There are benefits to a seraph having a vessel, but there's..." His expression fell a little. "...a lot of risks, too."

It was clear that this wasn't a subject that Mikleo was comfortable with, so Rose decided to handle this the best way she knew how: by sidestepping it entirely. "Well, we've got other seraphim with us now. If there's anything you've been dying to learn about, now you've got someone to ask, right?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Mikleo agreed.

"In the meantime, why don't we pack up and head to Kylfe?" Rose asked, stretching. "I can cover any hotel expenses or anything like that. This is kind of an emergency, anyway."

"I wouldn't count on that," Dezel's voice replied. With a start, Rose realized that the wind seraph had made his way over without her noticing. How did he move so quickly and quietly? She prided herself on being so alert, and yet...

Nearby, Lailah stood. "Dezel's right," she said. "The Malevolence that covered Ladylake may have already spread to Kylfe. Even if we did stop to rest there instead of here, we might not have been able to stay long."

"But wouldn't Sorey's domain keep us safe?" Mikleo asked. "It worked at the Sanctuary, and I can still kinda feel it now."

"It would keep the Malevolence back, yes, but not the hellions."

Rose groaned. "Then can we at least do something about our food situation? We can't live off of snacks, you know..."

"Our only option again is Kylfe," Mikleo said, frowning, "But it's too far away to get there and back in a timely manner. Unless we've got a map, I don't think driving down the highway in the other direction to search for gas stations is a great idea, either. Not when we're low on fuel. Worse comes to worse, we could head to Kylfe anyway and just keep it quick, but..."

Lailah clasped her hands together. "Perhaps we could order some delivery!" She said hopefully. "We'd have to give them a pretty big tip, sure, but..."

"No signal," Rose held up her phone and pointed hopelessly at it. "There aren't any cell towers close enough by. That, or they're down right now."

Mikleo sighed. "Well, we need to do _something_ about our food supply. We've got enough snacks to last us to lunch, but that's about it."

Dezel grumbled something angrily under his breath along the lines of " _Fine_ , then..." before heading back to the entrance. Lailah hurried after him, only stopping when he paused near the entrance of the cavern and finally spoke to her. It was too far away for Rose to really make out what they were saying, even with hints of their voices echoing off the stone walls. While Mikleo returned to checking Sorey's fever and tending to him, Rose watched as the tense conversation came to an abrupt halt with Dezel stalking out the doors of the ruins. Lailah let out a quiet sigh and turned away from the door, striding back towards them while absently folding a sheet of paper.

Rose slouched forward and cupped her head in one hand, huffing in irritation. Until Sorey was up and about again, they were stuck here in a cave with barely any food and no way to contact help. The only comforting thing about this was Lailah's reassurance that he wouldn't be out for too long. She only hoped that it was sooner, rather than later. And honestly, she wasn't sure which option was worse: waiting for Sorey to wake up, or having to brave the Malevolence and the hellions while he was still out cold. After all, he was the only one out of them that seemed to be able to handle the more ferocious ones. Not that Rose doubted her own skills, but she certainly didn't want a repeat of that lizard monster in the Sanctuary.

Perhaps it was a trick of the mind, but the air began to feel stale and thick as she stared at the fire Lailah had made. Before she wonder about it more, however, Rose angrily tore another piece of jerky in two and forced the thought from her mind. She had better things to worry about.

 

* * *

 

 

> _**Aegis has logged in.** _
> 
> **Aegis** : hey! you there?
> 
> **Aegis** : yeah, didn't think so. probably hightailed it out of ladylake after the hellions stopped by to play, huh?
> 
> **Aegis** : that's fine, though. i'll just leave you a message here. ;)
> 
> **Aegis** : you probably already figured it out by now, but lunarre was behind the museum robbery, too. probably under the same orders as last time.
> 
> **Aegis** : since you're busy, i'm taking the liberty of going after him while he's still stuck in town. he swiped a few artifacts that really don't belong in malevolent hands, if you get my drift.
> 
> **Aegis** : normally i'd let you do the honors, but this isn't exactly the time for that.
> 
> **Aegis** : thing is, some of those artifacts don't really belong in a museum either, so i'm not going to return them.
> 
> **Aegis** : probably a good thing your phone's got no reception right now. i know you'd chew me out for THAT one.
> 
> **Aegis** : if it'll help you feel any better, though, the stuff i'm stealing back from lunarre? it's gonna be put to better use. WAY better than it could be sitting in a display case for humans to stare at all day.
> 
> **Aegis** : oh, and one more thing...
> 
> **Aegis** : ...actually, nevermind. i'll take care of it myself once i get there. ;)
> 
> **Aegis** : be careful, rose.
> 
> _**Aegis has logged out.** _

 

* * *

 

_It seems that I was mistaken. Before, I thought that the Oath was almost exclusively seraphic. However, it comes to my attention that humans can uphold very similar oaths. However, I believe that a human Oath is different and somewhat less common than a seraphic Oath. I've met and seen many humans in my time that have taken Oaths. I do not envy them their burden, but many times I did wish that there was some way that I could help them all the same. An Oath's terms can be a nuisance at best, a life-threatening burden at worst._

_I suppose I cannot be blamed for not know. After all, the world is a vast place. Many secrets lie in wait, longing to be discovered. Some truths wait to be unraveled, becoming twisted in myth and legend and confusion in the meantime. History is no different. I worry, however, that unraveling the truth can be just as disastrous as leaving it entangled. For if one is not careful, they'll end up with an even worse knot than they were trying to fix to begin with._

_Oh, what a mess we've landed ourselves in..._


	11. Seeking the Source

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm really sorry for the delay in the next chapter, but here it is at long last. I'll try to update this more frequently in the future. Thank you for your patience!

_Water is a potent healing force, yet no other element is more vulnerable and easily corrupted._

_Fire brings calm and comfort, yet the slightest misstep can wreak havoc and destruction._

_Earth is steadfast and unyielding, but so too can it be oblivious to the harm it may cause._

_Wind ushers forth freedom, but with it comes the temptation of manipulation and control._

_The absence of any causes suffering. The overabundance of any causes death. They must all be in balance for the world to flourish. Is this, too, the duty of the Shepherd? It seems that wherever the Shepherd goes, balance is brought. Yet, this balance is not eternal. There will always be something to disrupt it eventually, which then must be quelled by another Shepherd.  
_

_In essence, I suppose one could say that the world is caught in an unending cycle. Balance and Chaos are constantly at odds. I often wonder if one is truly better than the other..._

 

* * *

 

No matter how many times they asked, Lailah wouldn't say what she'd discussed with Dezel before he stormed out. She did, however, reassure them that he would return before long. True to her word, he did, smelling like burned rubber. With him he'd brought a bag full of frozen pork dumplings (still factory-sealed, Mikleo had pointed out), and he'd refused to explain where he'd found them. Between Mikleo's artes to keep them frozen and Lailah's artes to heat up the ones they would eat, it seemed they'd have enough food to last them a short while.

Time passed both quickly and slowly at once; the only way they'd been able to keep track of how long it had been was to check the time on any cell phone present. At one point, Rose had become restless and tried to leave the shrine for the sake of getting some fresh air, but one look at the dark cloud of malevolence outside was enough to convince her to stay inside. If not that, then a death glare from Dezel was just as effective,  if not moreso, especially considering the fact that no one could even see his eyes under his shaggy hair. The snarl and show of oddly pointed teeth was apparently enough.

Mikleo could tell Rose was sick of waiting, but there really wasn't any choice at this point. At least they had food, but beyond that it was a waiting game. Once Sorey was awake, they'd be able to safely investigate the river. The others insisted that it wouldn't be too safe to stick around, and they'd be better off finding somewhere else to go, but Lailah agreed with Mikleo that they should look into why the shrine and river were both dried up.

"I believe that this shrine is connected with the source of the river somehow," she'd said. "It may be worth investigating this place to see what's happened."

And if they didn't fix it, Mikleo reminded himself, Ladylake would slowly dry up. That wasn't something he was keen on letting happen. Ladylake had been his and Sorey's home for some time and, for all its problems, was comfortable to him in part _because_ of all the water there. Not only that, but water was essential to human life. He couldn't turn a blind eye to this, even if he wanted to. If only he had a less-than-dire reason to explore such interesting and remarkable ruins...

The more he gave their situation thought, the worse his feeling of dread would get. Perhaps it was a trick of the mind, but he could have sworn that it was getting colder.

 

* * *

 

_His dreams were filled with swarming clouds and angry thunder. Of raging volcanoes and crawling ice, of greedy forests and poisoned fog. From them sprung monstrous creatures that stalked closer and closer, armed with hungry fangs and claws. Sorey was frightened, but he stood his ground. Somehow, the urge to flee, to scream and run, never came to him._

_Voices from within and without, calling his name. Once more, he lifted his hand, the crest on the back of it blazing with a golden light. The monsters paused, staring warily as the destruction eased away. Hope rose within him. This time it would work. This time, he could protect them. But then it came swarming back in, snuffing out that hope. He wasn't enough to stop it. He couldn't do this alone, no matter how hard he tried-_

_Dancing flames. Crashing waves. Nurturing earth. Guiding winds. They sprung to life all around him, they became him, and with a renewed strength he forced the destruction away._

_The monsters shrieked and ran, but not before a white flame consumed them, their darkness floating into the air before dissipating altogether. The volcanoes calmed, leaving only smoke to rise from their craters. The ice shattered and melted, and water flowed along the ground. Thorny vines shrank away, leaving grass and bright wildflowers in their wake. The air cleared, crisp and sweet once more._

_And the world itself sang. He could feel their thanks, their joy, but still their fear lingered. On the horizon, the darkness grew and pushed forward again, eager to break what had just been fixed. More monsters appeared and crawled towards him. It was an unending cycle; he knew if he pushed them back again, they'd only return. He had to find a way to put a stop to this for good. He had to-_

_"Stop!"_

_What...?_

_"Are you insane?! This isn't going to help anything!"_

_He felt his strength being sapped from him. His limbs locked up, and no matter how he struggled, he couldn't move. White threads of light sprung from the ground all around him, lashing around one another like a great spider's web. His senses gradually went numb._

_"You don't know what you're doing!"_

_"Stop this! Stop this RIGHT NOW!"_

_Slowly, the white light overwhelmed him, and everything faded. The numbness took over, and as much as he willed himself, his legs simply wouldn't move. Neither would his arms. His thoughts became scattered. Before long, there was...nothing. No sound, no light, no anything. A suffocating stagnancy took over his body and his mind. For the longest time, there was only silence._

Soon, he felt his thoughts sorting themselves again, the feeling come back to his limbs. It was difficult to do so at first, but Sorey managed to pry his eyes open. Even dim lights seemed to sting his eyes for a moment as they adjusted.

"Hey, I think he's coming around again."

Mikleo's voice was a welcome one, even with how distant it sounded. There was an odd echo to it as it finally became sharper and louder. Sorey's other senses began to return as well, slowly but surely. The damp smell of algae and stone, as well as ash, came just before he felt the cold, hard ground beneath him, while a familiar warm feeling settled in his chest. His fingers twitched and flexed a little before he could manage moving his arm. When his eyes finally focused, he could make out Mikleo and Rose hovering over him, their faces illuminated by firelight. It was difficult to see, but he could make out stone walls dotted with moss and algae, with large stone walkways criss-crossing above him. Where _was_ he...?

"About time you got up, sleepyhead," Mikleo remarked.

Smiling tiredly, Sorey pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing a stiff spot on his neck. "Where's Lailah?"

 _"I'm right here, Sorey!"_ Lailah's voiced called. _"Would you like me to come out?"_

Rose wailed, scampering back a a little before Sorey could even open his mouth. "Stop talking in my head!"

_"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..."_

Sorey let out a sympathetic chuckle. "Maybe it would be easier to talk if we were doing it face-to-face," he agreed.

_"Oh, yes! Just a second!"_

He wasn't entirely sure _what_ he felt, only that something had shifted before a bright orb of red light emerged from his chest and fly next to him, bursting into sparks and reshaping into Lailah's graceful form kneeling on the ground next to him. He didn't have much chance to formulate any kind of reaction before Rose beat him to it. " _Cripes_ , would you stop doing that?!" she cried, scampering back a few feet.

Mikleo rolled his eyes, ignoring the two of them and turning his attention to Sorey. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Never better," Sorey replied, straightening. He added his usual smile for good measure. He was, after all, feeling a lot better than he had before, if rather hungry. "I guess all I needed was a little rest."

"A little?" Mikleo echoed. "Sorey, you've been out for _days_."

Sorey froze, the entire world seemingly stopping with him as Mikleo's words sunk in. "Days?"

Mikleo nodded. "Yeah. You passed out while we were driving up here. Do you remember?"

Rose and Lailah had apparently quieted down at some point, as Sorey noticed that they were glancing his way when he looked over at them. His gaze went back to Mikleo, the seraph's violet eyes filled with concern and waiting for a response. Sorey chewed his lip thoughtfully for a moment. "I remember Lailah telling me to get some rest," He said. "Those weird clothes disappeared, and I felt really tired... I guess that must've been when I finally passed out."

"What _was_ that, anyway?" Rose asked. "There was a whole lot of fire and suddenly you were wearing a completely different getup and everything. I mean, don't get me wrong, that was _awesome_ , but what the heck _was_ it?"

"That was the Armatus," Lailah explained.

All heads turned to Lailah, with varying levels of confusion. "Armatus...?" Sorey echoed.

Lailah nodded. "Simply put, it's a combination of the Shepherd and seraph's power. Normally, it takes quite some time to master, but you seem to have a natural aptitude for it, Sorey."

"Look at you," Mikleo commented, grinning. "Shepherd for only one day and you've already got the hang of it."

"I don't think he was even a Shepherd for an _hour_ before he passed out," Rose pointed out.

Letting out a sheepish grin, Sorey shifted his seat. The armatus... He'd read a little bit about it in the Celestial Record, but there hadn't been very many details. "It sure took a lot out of me," he said. "Did the other Shepherds have it this tough their first day, too?"

An uneasy silence settled over the group until finally, Lailah blinked and glanced away. "I'm sorry, I think I missed what you said."

Taken aback for a moment, Sorey spoke again, a little more slowly this time. "What was it like for the previous Shepherds?"

Rather abruptly, Lailah clasped her hands together and turned towards the door in the back of the ruins. "Since we're all awake now, why don't we go investigate what's caused all the water to dry up, shall we?"

" _Someone's_ got a gold medal in topic deflection," Rose commented dryly.

"She does have a point, though," Mikleo said, standing up. "With the river all dried up, it won't be long before Ladylake starts suffering a drought. Since this shrine is connected to the river, we might as well take a look while we're in here."

Lailah nodded in agreement. "Right. By the time we're done, it should be safer to travel again outside."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Fine, you guys go exploring. I'll wait here and make sure no one crashes the party."

Sorey noticed Dezel perking up where he stood near the door, his head turning ever-so-slightly in their direction. The air around them stirred, just a little.

Lailah nodded approvingly. "Very well. Just be careful, alright?"

"I doubt any hellions will be able to bust through a door like _that_ ," Rose replied, grinning. "But yeah. I'll be careful. Promise."

Rose made her way near the entrance (pointedly ignoring Dezel) while Sorey, Mikleo, and Lailah headed further into the shrine. Before they could even make their way through the doors, Lailah assured them that she knew her way around the shrine, and could guide them back to the entrance if they became lost. When they tried to ask her how she knew about the place, she once again shifted focus back to the task at hand.

Unlike the entrance to the shrine, the inner corridors were much darker. Lailah lit a sheet of paper aflame and allowed it to hover overhead as they walked forward. The walls and floor were cracked and eroded just like outside, and there were water stains lining the stone beneath them. The air was still humid, and bits of algae still grew in a few places. Above many of the doors was a familiar emblem, shaped like a bow and a set of arrows. Sorey and Mikleo both noted that, in some places, there were designs on the walls, pillars, and the floor shaped like enormous eyes.

"That's odd," Lailah observed. "The eyes don't seem to be functioning anymore."  
  
"Were they some sort of mechanism?" Sorey asked.

Lailah shook her head. "They're meant to keep intruders out by teleporting anyone that walks within range back to the fountain in the entrance," she explained. "It makes exploring a bit frustrating if you aren't careful, but it also works as a quick way back to the entrance."  
  
"The absence of water might be what caused them to shut down," Mikleo said. "The fountain you're referring to is all dried up."

Sorey nodded enthusiastically,a theory forming in his mind. "That could be it. Shrines are usually created with powerful seraphic artes. If they're meant to last this long, it's possible that they were somehow tied to the element in each shrine. Without that element active, those traps might not function properly."

"All the more reason to fix this place up, then. Once we get the water flowing and these traps re-activated, it'll be harder for anyone to tamper with the shrine again." Mikleo narrowed his eyes in thought, but Sorey could see the worry etched on his face. "Although that _does_ beg the question of how anyone managed to pull that off in the first place."

Nearby, Lailah fell oddly silent and looked away.

Before he could really think about it much, Sorey found himself carefully approaching Lailah. He wasn't sure what it was that made his compassion and concern win out over the reverence and respect he had for such a legendary seraph. Perhaps it was how quickly things had sped along last time he was awake. Perhaps it was that odd gut feeling he had that something was wrong. If he didn't know any better, he'd say she looked worried, perhaps even nervous. "Lailah? Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Lailah turned to him. "Oh, yes, I'm fine! It's just been so long since I've been able to stretch my legs."

She didn't sound very convincing, but Sorey opted not to press her about it.

The three continued, climbing higher into the shrine. Sorey found himself shivering as they crossed one of the large walkways above the central cavern. His clothing was doing a decent job keeping him warm so far, but he couldn't help but wonder if it was getting colder and colder the further they went. Lailah eventually noticed and lowered the flame to be a little closer to him. He even noticed that the higher they went, the more and more he saw patches of algae tipped in frost. He exchanged glances with Mikleo. It wasn't his imagination; it really _was_ getting colder the higher up they went.

Lailah said something, but Sorey didn't quite catch it. Seconds later, however, he found that she had brought the flame lighting their way a bit closer. It didn't get rid of the cold, but it took a lot of the edge off. What it didn't help with was an unwelcome, heavy sensation in his chest, like something was trying to weigh him down or crush him. It was making him feel a little nauseous, though luckily not enough to actually make him ill. He blinked, squinted, rubbed his eyes a bit...no, he wasn't seeing things. The air was tinged with a strange darkness that swept through like a black mist, and that same metallic taste from the other day came back to his tongue. An oily scent hung in the air, and his limbs felt strangely weak for a moment as he adjusted. Once the initial shock of sensing it passed, Sorey pulled himself together in time to see Mikleo giving him a wide-eyed, worried look. "Sorey?!"

"I'm fine," Sorey insisted. "I just...wasn't feeling well for a second there."

"You can sense it already," he heard Lailah mumble. "This is going a lot faster than I thought..."

"Sense what?" Mikleo asked. From how wary and alarmed his tone was, Sorey could guess that he already knew the answer.

Sorey expected the fire seraph to go off on another random tangent again, but this time she had no qualms with explaining herself: "Sorey, what you're sensing is Malevolence."

It made sense, but it was still an unwelcome surprise. So this was another part of being the Shepherd, then? He could feel the effects of Malevolence now, like the Seraphim could? More importantly, all those times that Mikleo had abruptly become sick back in Ladylake, _this_ was what he was feeling? This awful, suffocating feeling?

"It's proof that you've become accustomed to my power," Lailah explained. "Since you're my vessel now, you're able to sense it. And I'm afraid this is hardly the worst of it..."

 _Hardly the worst of it._ Sorey remembered that Mikleo had complained about the Malevolence being merely uncomfortable. But several times, he'd actually gagged, lost balance, needed long rests because it had gotten so bad. Sorey felt a pang of guilt. If this was what Mikleo had lived through all this time...

He felt Mikleo place his hand on his shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

Taking a deep breath - and being thankful that it didn't make the feeling worse - Sorey nodded, giving his companion his usual smile. "Yeah, I'll be okay. I'll just have to get used to it. What about you?"

"I'm fine for now," Mikleo replied, "But I have a feeling it'll be worse the further up we go."

Sorey frowned. This feeling was only going to get worse and worse, then. It was awful, sure, but he knew he could endure it. The only reason he'd really been shocked was because he was hardly used to it. Mikleo, though... He'd been around Malevolence for quite some time while they lived in Ladylake, enough to sometimes make him sick. Even now, Sorey could see a subtle twitch of discomfort on Mikleo's face that he knew would only grow into pain. He opened his mouth to tell Mikleo to turn back, but thought better of it; Mikleo had already made clear that he wasn't about to walk away from this so easily. Besides, Sorey was the Shepherd now. If Malevolence was the problem, then perhaps there was something he could do for Mikleo to keep him safe.

His mind made up, he turned to Lailah. "Lailah, is there some way we can get rid of the Malevolence to keep Mikleo safe?"

"Not quite," Lailah replied, shaking her head. "Even if you tried to burn it away, it'll still keep coming back until you quell the source."

"And it'll be too much by then," Sorey mumbled in frustration. Was there really nothing they could do? Mikleo wanted to help, Sorey wanted to protect him from the Malevolence... Was there really no way to achieve both at once? "There has to be _something_..."

Lailah must have realized this plight, as she took a step forward, folding her hands in front of her. "Well," She began, "There is _one_ way, but ultimately it will be Mikleo's decision."

Sorey and Mikleo exchanged baffled glances before turning to Lailah. Mikleo's decision? Just what was this going to be?

"If everyone agrees," Lailah explained. "I can make Mikleo my Sub-Lord."

Mikleo visibly stiffened next to Sorey, and Sorey's memory of the term came to the front of his mind. He remembered seeing the term scribbled into a few notes in the Celestial Record, usually on the sides of pages or on some of the blank pages in the back, but any explanation on the nature of sub-lords had been smudged beyond recognition.

Sensing their confusion, Lailah continued. "By becoming my sub-lord, Mikleo will place his power next to mine, and gain the power of purification. Sorey will also become his vessel-"  
  
"Absolutely not!"  
  
The abrupt, angry tone made Sorey jump. Mikleo wasn't exactly a stranger to speaking firmly when need be, but occasions like this were rather rare. What was his problem? This seemed like a good deal to _him_ so far! "What?! Mikleo, what's gotten into you-"

Mikleo's glare could shatter a wall of ice. "I said I'm not doing it! Do you really think I'm okay with something like that?!"

Lailah made an attempt to interrupt, but Sorey ignored her. He matched Mikleo's glare with one of his own, though one born far more from concern than anger. "So what, you just march right into the Malevolence? What if you get sick again, Mikleo?! What if you turn into a-"

"It's better than _using you_ like some kind of tool!" Mikleo snapped back. "Do you think I can't handle myself? Or did you forget what a vessel is in the first place?!"

He hadn't forgotten. Between Gramps teaching him from the time he was young to his more recent experiences with Lailah, Sorey was aware of what a vessel was. But even with that knowledge, his concern for Mikleo always came first. He grabbed Mikleo by the shoulders, facing him even as the water seraph stared at the ground. "Why are you being so hysterical?!"

The silence hung in the air like the cold. With a sigh, Mikleo slowly pushed Sorey's hands off of him and turned away. For a few moments, he didn't say anything, but when he found his voice again it was cold and stern.  "...I'll find you later. There's probably another path we haven't checked yet." With that, Mikleo spun on his heels and marched off in the opposite direction.

"Mikleo, wait!"

But Mikleo had swiftly rounded a corner and was already gone.

Lailah strode after him a few steps, arm outstretched, but stopped short. When she turned back to Sorey, he could see the overflowing concern in her eyes. "Sorey, we should go after him!"

Sorey shook his head. "No. We should let him be."

"But-"

"He said he's going back. Let him have his way." It hurt to say it, but this was hardly the first time something like this had happened. Even in his frustration, Sorey still had faith in Mikleo. He'd be fine. He could handle himself. They'd meet up again later once they were both cooled off and they could talk about this. Right now, the frustration was just too much. "Let's do what we can for now."

Sorey started forward again, his heart oddly heavy. Lailah reluctantly followed.

 

* * *

 

The halls were dark without Lailah's fire to light the way, and Mikleo almost regretted going off on his own. Still, it wasn't so dim that he couldn't see at all, it was simply difficult. The Malevolence was a good enough tell of danger, and his hearing was keen enough to warn him if the structure decided to collapse at any point. Not that it seemed like it was about to, in fact the shrine overall was in fairly good shape despite its age. He had little room in his mind to think about that, though, given his previous conversation and the offer to become a Sub-Lord.

Sorey wasn't bothered at all by the idea. Of _course_ he wasn't; he only ever thought of others and never of himself. But the whole sub-lord business, for all its perks, just didn't seem right. Using Sorey as a vessel, effectively a shield against the Malevolence, felt _wrong_. Not only that, but taking on another seraph could be another heavy strain on him, just like it had been when he forged his pact with Lailah. And for what? Mikleo barely knew what he could offer in return that he hadn't already given Sorey, even with the power of purification as a newly-added bonus. It just didn't seem fair.

He couldn't hurt Sorey like that. He just couldn't. Sorey wasn't a tool, and Mikleo wasn't interested in using him like one.

As he stewed in his thoughts, Mikleo heard a set of footsteps up ahead. He paused. Sorey didn't follow him, did he? No... Sorey was in the other direction. Was it Rose? Dezel, perhaps? As he squinted and looked for the source, it looked like none of them. It was probably tall enough to be Dezel, albeit maybe a few inches shorter. He could make out a long ponytail, though not nearly long enough to be Lailah's. Apparently, the stranger had noticed him as well, and had stopped to stare. Was this person searching the ruins as well? Mikleo felt a sting of hope. Maybe they knew what had stopped the water. "Who are you?" Mikleo asked.

The strange seraph stared in Mikleo's direction a few moments longer, then began walking away.

"Hey!" Mikleo called, chasing after him.

It must have been a wind seraph; they moved more quickly than Mikleo anticipated. The moment he thought he'd catch up to them, they were already rounding a corner up ahead. Every so often, they would stop, still staring at him, and then continue on. Perhaps he shouldn't be chasing this stranger, Mikleo thought, but there was no Malevolence. It couldn't be a hellion of any kind. That, and he had the strangest feeling deep down that he _needed_ to follow this person. Maybe, just maybe, he could get a few answers once he'd caught up.

He rounded another corner, only to find that he'd entered a small chamber, full of more stone eyes and a few crumbled doors.The room was effectively a dead end, but hardly featureless. The stone walls, carved as elegantly as the other chambers had been, were covered in frost. In front of him, the stranger stood tall and calm, and even in the low light Mikleo was finally close enough to see a few details. The stranger had pure white hair, tipped in blue: a water seraph, no doubt. Draped from his shoulders was an impressive _six_ capes that looked eerily similar to the two Mikleo wore, and what little he could see of his pants seemed to match as well. Something about him seemed oddly familiar, but Mikleo couldn't quite place just what it was.

A few seconds passed before the stranger turned ever-so-slightly in Mikleo's direction. There was a pause, and then he spoke in a voice that Mikleo couldn't help but recognize, but from where he didn't know: "So it's finally come to this..."

The moment the stranger finally turned to face him, it felt like the world itself had frozen. Mikleo could barely believe what he was seeing. The stranger was wearing a circlet, exactly like the one he owned. He had violet eyes, just as Mikleo did. It was far too eerie, far too specific to write it off as a coincidence. Mikleo had never seen himself in a mirror before, but he almost felt like he was doing just that. It took him a moment to find a reply. "What do you mean?"

"Remember," the strange seraph replied, "This is the path that you have chosen."

There was a flash of light as a long staff materialized in the older seraph's hand. Before Mikleo could make heads or tails of what was going on, let alone back away, there was a blur of movement as the seraph dashed forward. He felt a sharp pain in his head, and the strength rapidly left his legs. His vision blurred and began to fade, his hearing tumbling into silence. Just as his consciousness slipped away, he felt someone catch him before he could hit the ground, gently lowering him rather than letting him fall.

"See it through, Mikleo."


	12. The Watcher's Dilemma

 

> _**Gungnir has logged in.** _
> 
> **Gungnir:** Hello, Aegis.
> 
> **Aegis:** You again?
> 
> **Aegis:** When are you going to mind your own business?
> 
> **Gungnir:** This IS my business.
> 
> **Gungnir** : I made an agreement, and I intend to see it through. Whether or not you like it doesn't matter.
> 
> **Aegis** : Oh yeah? What kind of agreement?
> 
> **Gungnir** : You'll find out soon enough.
> 
> **Aegis** : Or you could tell me NOW and save us both the trouble, instead of being needlessly cryptic all the time.
> 
> **Aegis** : You're really getting on my nerves.
> 
> **Gungnir** : Are you going to listen to my message or not?
> 
> **Aegis** : Another message? What now?
> 
> **Gungnir** : The Watcher will soon rouse from slumber, yet will awaken surrounded by malice.
> 
> **Gungnir** : In other words: I strongly advise you to hurry up with that plan of yours, Aegis.
> 
> **Aegis** : How do you know about our plan?
> 
> **Gungnir** : I know a lot of things. How I know them is of no importance to you.
> 
> **Gungnir** : You should stop wasting time trying to interrogate me. The hellions won't wait for you, and neither will the Shepherd.
> 
> _**Gungnir has logged off.** _

 

* * *

 

It was quiet after Mikleo had stormed off, and Sorey's thoughts were swarming. He fully understood why Mikleo was angry, but he couldn't really say he agreed. He vaguely recalled Gramps telling them that vesselhood for humans was a complicated and rare scenario. In fact, other than Shepherds, very few humans had ever served as vessels for seraphim. They hadn't learned much more than that before they left home. At least, Sorey hadn't. Did Mikleo know something that he didn't?

Sorey went over everything that he'd been taught, either from Zenrus or from Mikleo. A seraph retreating into a vessel was like a human heading home for the day; it was a place to disappear into and rest. A vessel was also the only way a seraph could make a decent enough domain (they'd both asked Zenrus what his vessel was to create the domain that he did, but he never did give them a straight answer). So far, so good. Mikleo never strayed from Sorey's side anyway, so he never saw a problem with being a vessel for him, even before the whole Shepherd ordeal. Had Mikleo ever asked, he would have said yes without a second thought. So, what was it about using a human as a vessel that made Mikleo so upset? What was so vastly different that he'd immediately reject the idea, even if it was so helpful to him?

"Sorey?"

He paused, suddenly registering that Lailah had been trying to get his attention for a solid minute. Oops. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something."

Lailah tilted her head, looking rather concerned. "You're worried about Mikleo, aren't you?"

Read him like a book. "... Yeah."

"He'll be alright," Lailah said, offering him a warm smile.

Even though they hadn't known each other for more than a day's worth of time, Lailah still treated Sorey like a friend she'd known for years. Whether it was a testament to her kindness or simply some wish to get along with her Shepherd, he couldn't tell, but Sorey was thankful for it either way. He only wished he knew why Mikleo had suddenly become so angry with him. He knew he tended to worry, but the seraph also knew how far Sorey was willing to go to help him. Being a vessel for him was probably the best thing he could possibly do. So, then, why would Mikleo reject the idea so fervently...?

His thoughts were interrupted as they came upon what appeared to be some kind of elevator shaft. The elevator itself wasn't working, as the shrine as a whole seemed defunct. There was, however, a rope dangling from above. It was old, certainly, but not nearly as old as the shrine. Sorey wondered who must have left it there. It couldn't have been an archaeologist or explorer. These ruins weren't exactly easy to access. The rest of the place seemed relatively untouched, as well. If someone had come to these ruins to study them, there would've been more records of it somewhere. Sorey began to wonder if there would be answers above, though considering that the Malevolence only seemed to get thicker the higher they climbed... Was it even possible for an explorer to live that long as a hellion?

"It is possible," Lailah said quietly.

The fact alone that it was possible was so foreboding that Sorey barely registered the embarrassment that he'd been thinking out loud again.

Luckily, the rope was sturdy, making for a relatively easy climb upward. Although Sorey first thought that Lailah would simply be able to float upwards, as he'd seen her fly about before as a small orb, she opted to hitch a ride with him instead. Once at the top, they found a grappling hook attached to the rope, firmly wrapped around a fragmented pillar nearby. Sorey briefly debated bringing it along, but instead left it alone in case he needed it on the way back out. They made their way down another long bridge across the cavern. The light from Lailah's fire didn't reach very far, but it was still enough to see that the cavern roof was overhead...and it glistened strangely. Sorey squinted to get a better look at it. Was that _ice_...? It would explain why it was so cold in here, but it was still too dark to see.

The two of them pressed on, towards the source of Malevolence. Sorey winced as the awful taste in his mouth got worse, the weight in his chest got heavier, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. It finally reached its peak at the large door on the other end of the hallway. Though it was surrounded by ice, it didn't take much more effort to open than Sorey had thought.

Beyond the door was an enormous chamber, not quite the size of the central chasm but still respectable in size. While much of the cavern wall remained uncarved and undecorated, there were several stone carvings lining the walls, and an enlarged and elegant bow sigil carved into the central platform. The patches of algae on the walls had been completely frozen, the frost glinting in Lailah's firelight.

What caught Sorey's attention the most, however, was what sat at the other end of the chamber: an enormous chunk of ice, covering at least half the chamber. The frost in the air was just as visible as Sorey's own breath, and it was only thanks to Lailah's fire that he could stand the cold at all. Some of the ice had begun to grow along the walls and ceiling, and it completely filled the canals along the walls of the room. Most of the floor seemed untouched, but only half the platform was unfrozen. The Malevolence was notably thicker inside as well, and Sorey had to suppress a wince.

Even with such a choking atmosphere, it was hard to keep the gears in Sorey's mind from turning. What little he could make out of the patterns scrawled along the central platform and some of the walls, the sheer size of the room alone, how different it was from the rest of the shrine, how high up it was... This room must have served an important purpose. It only stood to reason that there was a connection to the river somewhere in here, if not from all that then from the massive glacier that had formed. Maybe it went all the way through to the other side? That aside, was the Malevolence coming from within the ice? If it was, then it _definitely_ had to go. If not to help the river, then most certainly to stop any possible corruption. Sorey turned to the fire seraph next to him. "Lailah, think you can melt this ice?"

Lailah nodded. "Yes, but it would take a long time to melt through all of it."

Right... She had a point. This _was_ a lot of ice. "Then maybe we'll have an easier time breaking it up first," he suggested, pulling out his sword. It wasn't the best tool for chipping away at ice, but it was doable.

There was a loud cracking noise, and Sorey felt the Malevolence shift. He heard Lailah shout a warning, but it never reached him over the continuing sounds of the ice fracturing and rumbling. The room trembled, threatening to throw him off balance. The ice shifted and broke open, clawed arms unravelling themselves out of the glacier. A beast-like head lifted and unfurled, snarling at the Shepherd and Seraph. Though the rest of its body was embedded in the wall, its presence choked the entire chamber.

It was a hellion, and an enormous one at that.

"This must be why all the water dried up!" Sorey cried.

A creaking noise to his left. The hellion had lifted its claws, bringing them down to crash onto him. Sorey leaped away just in time to see the rock where he once stood fracture and freeze over with a thin layer of frost. He heard Lailah call out to him, and looked over just in time to see her unleash a flurry of flames to block a spike of ice barreling in his direction. He barely managed to thank her before dodging another swipe.

He had no idea hellions could get this big, let alone this terrifying. The reptilian beast in the Sanctuary and the ensuing swarm during their escape were just the beginning. There was only one way to find out it this frozen monster was responsible for the potential drought or not. He had no idea if he could defeat such a thing, let alone _purify_ it, but they had to try.

_"Fethmus Mioma!"_

 

* * *

 

Rose was bored, and having Dezel loom nearby wasn't helping matters at all. The air always seemed to stir around him. Was it a wind seraph thing? Or was it something else? It gave her the creeps, but whenever she complained about it she ended up being ignored. She was losing more and more patience for Dezel's continued reluctance to answer questions or even give her a straight response whenever he did. Even her jabs went largely ignored. All the stories she'd heard growing up about guardian seraphim had created a mental image in her mind that was being completely subverted and crushed.

Dezel's head snapped up suddenly, his lips curling into a frown. Rose couldn't fathom what had him so alarmed; they were standing by the only entrance to the shrine and the doors still hadn't budged. Just as she opened her mouth to ask him what his problem was, the prickly wind seraph provided her with an answer.

"Something's wrong," he said. "Seems like we're not alone in here, after all."

Before Rose could make a comment, Dezel strode swiftly past her and towards the door at the other end of the cavern, the air stirring restlessly in his wake. "Hey!" Rose cried. "What happened to watching the door?!"

"I'll know if it opens."

Rose doubted that, and she wasn't very comforted by his dismissive tone, but she knew better than to argue at this point. Dezel would just grumble back at her, anyway. She hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders and hurried after the wind seraph, not wanting to be alone at the door should any hellions burst through. That, and she had a sinking feeling about whatever Dezel had sensed...

Almost the instant they went inside, it became infinitely more difficult to make out her surroundings. While she could make out the carved stone walls and a few vague paths, most everything was so far shrouded in darkness that Rose could barely see anything. Any complaints she made about it earned her more gripes from Dezel.

"Your phone's got a flashlight on it, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, for maybe half a hour's worth of time! That thing drains battery like-"

"Then stay close to me."

"What, you can see in the dark or something?"

Dezel huffed in amusement, but didn't grace her with a further response. Rose ended up staying close to him, in favor of conserving her phone's battery for an emergency.

The trek through the ruins felt exceedingly long, but Dezel seemed to know exactly where he was going. That, or he really _could_ see in the dark. Any time Rose came too close to slipping into an empty canal or off a walkway, she was either pushed away by a sudden gust of wind or yanked back by the hood courtesy of her grumpy acquaintance. At some point, Dezel picked up the pace and offered no remarks and no responses to any more of Rose's questions on the way. Perhaps he'd opted not to dignify her with a response in favor of hurrying to...whatever trouble he'd detected. Just how could he tell that things had gone awry from so far away, anyway? Was it a wind seraph thing? Mikleo certainly couldn't do that. If he could, Sorey would have told her long ago, and at least half of this mess would have been avoided.

After rounding a corner, Dezel abruptly sped into a run, a fierce tailwind blowing behind them and causing Rose to start running just to keep up. It was obvious from his speed alone that something had him alarmed instead of just nervous now. He finally slowed to a stop in one of the larger chambers, kneeling next to a fallen figure. After only a second of squinting to make out a few details, Rose realized she knew exactly who she was looking at. She hadn't known the face for very long, but he was still clearly distinguishable. "Mikleo?!"

It was difficult to see in the dimly-lit chamber, but it was definitely Mikleo. He was lying on his back, out cold. Something didn't add up; there was no sign of a struggle. What was he doing here? Mikleo _never_ left Sorey's side. There didn't seem to be any monsters - hellions? - about, either. Most intriguing, however was what was lying on the ground next to him: a large, blue bow, almost as big as he was. It was hard to make out any details in such low lighting, but Rose could tell that it was no ordinary bow. An artifact left behind in the ruins? But it was in pretty good shape for something so ancient. There was no way it was some dusty old relic that Sorey would ramble at length about. It had to be some replica or something. Maybe it was Mikleo's? No, he used a staff, that didn't make sense...

"Probably knocked out. He's fine." Dezel gently moved Mikleo's unconscious form, inspecting him. "Doesn't look like he picked a fight with anyone. Something must've gotten the jump on him."

"And then left him here alone?" Rose said, staring. "With this thing?"

Dezel didn't even glance at the bow, but he nodded anyway. "Seems like it."

With a groan, Mikleo stirred, wincing and cracking an eye open. Rose let out a sigh of relief. Looks like they made it just in time. She could worry about the whys and the hows later. Mikleo blinked a few times before finally speaking, his voice strained. "Rose? ...Dezel? Weren't you two watching the entrance?"

"We were," Rose replied, "Before Dezel went running off."

"Because I sensed something was wrong," Dezel insisted, marking one of the first times ever he hadn't scoffed or scolded Rose for her retorts. "Are you hurt?"

Mikleo sat up, wincing. "I'm fine," he insisted. "My head still hurts a little, but I'm not injured."

Dezel moved back, giving Mikleo room to reorient himself. Rose took the time to get a better look at the water seraph. He was a little scuffed up, sure, but he'd looked like that before as well. No sign of any injuries whatsoever, clearly visible or not. Dezel was right; someone must have just knocked him on the head and left him here. But who, and why? Sorey and Lailah were the only ones in here, right?

"What are you doing here?" Dezel asked firmly. "Weren't you going with Sorey?"

Mikleo's expression hardened for a moment, and he cast a narrow gaze at the ground. As he opened his mouth to reply, however, instead he let out a small gasp and his eyes widened as he spotted the bow sitting next to him. The look he was giving it was indescribable. For a moment, Rose could have sworn he recognized it, but it was quickly overcome by wonder and shock as he reached for it. "This is..."

"It was sitting next to you when we found you," Dezel explained.

Rose was about to ask Mikleo what he was doing with a bow, but noted the wide-eyed look on his face ( _"Sorey always has that same look when he's about to ramble out something,"_ she thought in a moment of amusement) and waited for his response. The water seraph carefully picked up the weapon, holding it as though it were the most delicate thing in the world. "This is one of the artifacts that was stolen from the museum. The Bow of the Wise Shepherd."

Even with her indifference to such things, even Rose had to admit that this was an astonishing turn of events. Her jaw dropped in surprise. "A stolen artifact?" She said. "What's it doing all the way out here?"

Mikleo was silent for several long seconds, staring wide-eyed at the bow before shaking his head. "I'm not sure," he finally uttered, "But this is no ordinary bow. This is a Divine Artifact, like Lailah's blade."

The air stirred very suddenly, but Rose barely paid it much attention. "Wait, so does that mean that you can use that thing to quell Hellions or make someone a Shepherd or whatever?"

"Something like that," Mikleo explained, standing up.

It was such good news that Rose barely realized how thankful she was that Mikleo gave her the short version for once. Lords knew how long he'd be rambling if he gave her the full explanation.

Abruptly, Dezel snarled and glanced over at the doorway. For a moment, Rose was afraid that something had burst through the front door while they weren't there to guard it. But the next words out of his mouth were almost worse: "Good luck getting it to him," he said. "Seems like there's a hellion in here, after all."

Mikleo's gaze snapped up. "What?!"

"There's Malevolence in here, too?!" Rose wailed. "I thought this place was empty!"

"Something must have gotten in before us," Mikleo said, his gaze narrowing. "But this means we're blocked on both sides..."

"Don't tell me you're thinking about fighting it," Dezel snapped. "Did you forget that water is the most easily corrupted of the four elements?"

Mikleo shook his head. "We don't have much choice-"

Aggravated, Dezel grabbed Mikleo by the front of his vest and dragged him to eye level, his snarl showing off two rows of abnormally sharp teeth. "Like hell we do!" He roared. "Did you forget what happens to free seraphim when they're swarmed by too much Malevolence?!"

The stirring wind surged, and Rose took a sharp step back. Dezel had not once shifted into such genuine anger since she met him. Whatever Mikleo did to set him off must have hit quite a nerve.

"It's only going to get worse!" Mikleo argued back, clearly startled but unwilling to relent.

Dezel was having none of it, his lips only curling back with further anger. "We have a _Divine Artifact!_ If there's a way you can use it against the Malevolence, then what the hell are you waiting for?!"

The silence following his outburst was almost as deafening as the outburst itself. Rose could see Mikleo's defiant expression making way for shock, and then some gentler emotion that she couldn't quite put a name to. After a few seconds, Mikleo gently pushed Dezel's hands away, sighing and staring thoughtfully at the bow in his hand. It was several more long moments of nothing before he finally spoke again, his tone much softer than before. "I can't use it," he explained. "Not alone, anyway."

There was no immediate response. His eyes were still veiled by his shaggy hair, but even in the darkness it was clear that he was glaring.

"The Divine Artifacts are wielded by the Shepherd to quell malevolence," Mikleo explained. "I can't use the power of purification, but Sorey can. If we can get this Divine artifact to him before the Malevolence gets any worse..."

"Then what're we waiting for?!" Rose cried, jumping to her feet. "Let's hurry up and find Sorey!"

No one argued. With the bow gripped tightly in his hand, Mikleo led the way, with Dezel nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with him as Rose followed closely behind. The more they ran, the colder the air became, and a distant roaring became louder and louder. Something about this all seemed so familiar to her, but Rose pushed it from her mind, keeping her focus on following the two seraphim through the ruins. Whatever was up there, it sounded a lot more mean than the lizard in the sanctuary. Sorey might have Lailah now, but even she knew that whatever he was facing, he needed their help, fast. Rose didn't know how she knew, but the dreadful feeling in her gut was too strong to brush off as mere anxiety.

_"Sorey, you idiot, you'd better hold on!"_


End file.
